Five valuable mental models

1. Gates' Law
2. Parkinson’s Law
3. The Paradox of Choice
4. Hanlon's Razor
5. Leverage

On startups, business, finance, investing, career, life and whatnot.

Here's a quick guide/refresher:

@BillGates' Law.

We overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in ten years.

It's the classic instant gratification versus long term mindset.

A ten year timeline will set you free.

Parkinson’s Law.

Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

"How can you achieve your 10 year plan in the next 6 months?" — Peter Thiel

Forgive me for putting it right after Gates' Law. But why not?

The Paradox of Choice.

More choices make decisions hard.

Your friends can't decide what to eat? Don't pass the parcel. Ask them to pick between two options. Same for Netflix. And so on. Saves time!

Eliminate indecision by reduction.

Hanlon's Razor.

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Not everyone's out there to get you.

There can be honest mistakes.

Leverage.

Leverage is a force multiplier.

You can make things where the effort it takes to scale, or to build a hundred, is identical to the effort it takes to build one, like a book, or a YouTube video.

"Build once, sell twice." — @jackbutcher

Add to the discourse.

What's your favorite mental model?

Bonus points for application.

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