Applied & Practical
Thinking & Personal Effectiveness
The general-purpose skills: reasoning clearly, deciding well, writing plainly and getting things done.
10 fields · 91 topics · 11 curated works
Fields within Thinking & Personal Effectiveness
Critical Thinking
9Evaluating arguments, including your own.
Argument Analysis · Logical Fallacies (Applied) · Steelmanning · Evidence Evaluation · Distinguishing Claims from Evidence
Decision Making
10Choosing well under uncertainty and time pressure.
Expected Value Thinking · Base Rates · Opportunity Cost · Reversible vs Irreversible Decisions · Decision Trees
Mental Models & Frameworks
12Portable structures for thinking about unfamiliar problems.
First Principles Reasoning · Inversion · Systems Thinking · Feedback Loops · Incentives
Probabilistic Thinking & Forecasting
8Reasoning in probabilities rather than certainties.
Thinking in Bets · Calibration Training · Superforecasting Methods · Fermi Estimation · Reference Class Forecasting
Writing & Communication
9Making yourself understood, which is most of the job.
Clear Writing · Structuring an Argument · Editing Your Own Work · Technical Writing · Business Writing
Reading & Research
8Getting knowledge out of sources efficiently.
How to Read a Book · Reading Difficult Texts · Skimming vs Deep Reading · Literature Search · Evaluating Sources
Productivity & Work Systems
10Structuring attention and time.
Deep Work & Focus · Attention Management · Task & Project Systems · Getting Things Done · Prioritisation
Habits & Behaviour Change
8Changing what you do by default.
Habit Formation (Applied) · Cue-Routine-Reward · Environment Design · Identity-Based Habits · Breaking Habits
Career & Life Design
9Long-horizon choices about work.
Career Capital · Skill Stacking · Choosing What to Work On · Networking Honestly · Mentorship
Interpersonal Skills
8The part of every job that is other people.
Active Listening · Asking Better Questions · Giving Feedback · Difficult Conversations (Personal) · Building Trust
Reading in Thinking & Personal Effectiveness
11Start here
No prior grounding assumed.
- BookOn Writing WellWilliam Zinsser, 1976
Clear thinking becomes clear writing; strip every sentence to its cleanest components and the argument survives.
- TalkYou and Your ResearchRichard Hamming, 1986· Free
Work on important problems with open doors and compound effort — why some capable people do significant work and most do not.
- BookNonviolent CommunicationMarshall B. Rosenberg, 1999
Separates observation from evaluation and need from strategy, which removes most of what makes a disagreement escalate.
- BookThinking in SystemsDonella Meadows, 2008
Stocks, flows and feedback loops explain why well-intentioned interventions produce the opposite of their intent.
- BookSuperforecastingPhilip Tetlock & Dan Gardner, 2015
Forecasting is a trainable skill: break problems down, use base rates, update in small increments, and keep score.
- BookDeep WorkCal Newport, 2016
Sustained distraction-free concentration is becoming rare exactly as it becomes more economically valuable.
- BookThinking in BetsAnnie Duke, 2018
Separate the quality of a decision from the quality of its outcome, because in any uncertain domain good decisions lose regularly.
- BookThe Scout MindsetJulia Galef, 2021
Treat beliefs as a map to be corrected rather than a territory to be defended, and test your reasoning with concrete thought experiments.
- BookAtomic HabitsJames Clear, 2018
Make the cue obvious, the action easy, the reward satisfying — and change identity rather than chase outcomes.
Then
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
- BookThe Craft of ResearchWayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb & Joseph M. Williams, 1995
Turns research into a stateable structure — claim, reasons, evidence, and the objection you owe your reader — rather than a search for material.
- BookPoor Charlie's AlmanackCharles T. Munger, 2005
Build a latticework of models from many disciplines, and invert every problem before attempting to solve it forward.