30 mental models to add to your thinking toolbox

Here are a few tips you can apply to master mental models, rather than being enslaved by them.

• Be aware of your thinking by asking yourself provoking questions
• Gather information to challenge your thinking with actual facts
• Inquire into other people’s thinking and challenge their views
• Resist jumping to conclusions and suspend your assumptions
• Look for recurring thought patterns and unlearn them

• Observe people. One great way to develop your own mental models is to find inspiration in people.
• Take note of nature. Nature follows many rules that can apply to human decision making.
• Ask for feedback. Ask a friend or a colleague to observe how you act and to help you identify behaviours that may not be obvious to you.

Don’t limit yourself to constructive mental models. You will observe mental models which you’d rather not reproduce.

If you want to read more about mental models, here are some books to further explore the topic. Not only I found these books useful, but I’ve seen them recommended over and over again on Hacker News and other places.

• Thinking, Fast and Slow (Daniel Kahneman)
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini)
• Metaphors We Live By (George Lakoff)
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (Dan Ariely)
• The Art of Thinking Clearly (Rolf Dobelli)