They are a representation of an external reality inside your head. Mental models are concerned with understanding knowledge about the world, they put knowledge in a usable form.

Mental models 

<ul><li>Become better at probing other people’s thinking. Ask questions. Simple ones are better. “Why” is the best.</li><li>Slow down. Make sure you give yourself time to think. </li><li>Probe yourself. Try and understand if you’re talking about something you really know something about or if you’re just regurgitating something you heard.</li></ul>

If you want to think better...

<ul><li>Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.</li><li>"I’m not smart enough to figure everything out myself, so I want to master the best of what other people have already figured out."</li></ul>

Principles for seeking wisdom

We often make the mistake of thinking that people with high IQs think better. But it's not true. That's not the type of knowledge or brainpower that makes you better at life, happier, or more successful.

Thinking is not IQ

When learning, we should focus on ideas that change slowly. When we chase the latest thing, we’re really jumping into an arms race. Despite our intentions, learning in this way fails to take advantage of cumulative knowledge. We’re not adding, we’re only maintaining.

Focus on the big, simple ideas

I wrote a response on quora recently to the question 'how do I become a better thinker' that generated a lot of attention and feedback so I thought I'd build on that a little and post it here too. Thinking is not IQ.

If you want to think better...

How to Think

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How to Train Your Brain to Think in New Ways