Thinking Out Loud: How to Use Your Voice in Knowledge Work
Used well, thinking out loud can sharpen how we work and how we think. By speaking and using our voice, knowledge workers can improve clarity, creativity, and decision-making.
thinking
The Multiplier Effect of Collective Curiosity
At his school in ancient Athens, Aristotle encouraged everyone to walk through the gardens while discussing ideas, rather than sitting quietly for lectures. Teachers and students would explore questions, challenge each other’s thinking, and build on each other’s insights. This tradition of walking and wondering together became so successful that it continued for centuries, influencing … Read More
Checklists: The Key to Smarter and Safer Work
From product launches to project management, I’m obsessed with checklists. And I’m not the only one. Systemic complexity means that we cannot rely on our memory alone to know what to do and when to know it. Checklists are a powerful tool allowing us to unload some of the cognitive stress of living our lives … Read More
The Curse of Knowledge
Have you ever had a teacher who was very smart but terrible at teaching? An expert who used so much jargon you could not follow their explanation? This is called the “curse of knowledge”, a term coined in 1989 by economists Colin Camerer, George Loewenstein, and Martin Weber. It’s a cognitive bias that occurs when … Read More
Levels of Thinking: How to Make Better Decisions with Second-Level Thinking
Skipping meals to save time, but finding yourself exhausted and unproductive by the afternoon. Choosing a cheaper apartment to save money, but the long commute ends up costing you time and energy. You tried to make the most sensible choice, and yet… What went wrong? It’s easy to get carried away when making a decision. … Read More
The Alchemy of Generative Questions
We all know that children are curious. Very curious. In fact, children ask more than a hundred questions an hour. This is how they explore, learn, and make sense of the world. However, researchers lament that “over the course of their education, students and adults ask fewer questions and more passively accept facts as the … Read More
The Curiosity Matrix: 9 Habits of Curious Minds
All healthy human babies and young children display curiosity, suggesting this is an innate human trait. Exploring our environment and babbling questions appear almost universal in early childhood across cultures. As an adaptive trait, curiosity draws us to seek information and new experiences. It’s how we learn about ourselves, others, and the world. However, research … Read More
The science of decision-making: why smart people do dumb things
Chocolate or vanilla? Trello or Jira? Atom or VS Code? Stay in or go out? Should I click on this link or not? We make thousands of choices everyday, often automatically, using mental models we have created over years of experience. Decision-making is the process we use to identify and choose alternatives, producing a final … Read More
Writing is a thinking tool
In our age of information overload, writing is not just a means of expression. It’s a tool for clarity, comprehension, and connection. If metacognition is your compass, then writing is your map.
Magnification and Minimization: Two “Binocular Tricks” of the Mind
The binocular tricks of magnification and minimization are two common forms of cognitive distortion that can impacting our sense of self, our mental health, and even the integrity of our decision making. How can we learn to think more clearly?