These Principles Made me So Rich I Questioned the Meaning of Making Money

Brilliant thinkers across all disciplines rely on mental models–recurring concepts and patterns that explain a wide array of situations. For example, physicists might use Newton’s law of inertia to predict that planets in motion will remain in motion, and biologists might rely on natural selection to explain the origin of the fight-or-flight response.

However, mental models aren’t only useful inside the ivory tower. Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann argue that using mental models can drastically elevate our everyday reasoning and decision-making skills. In Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models, they provide an array of mental models to improve our decision-making, in life and in business.

In this guide, we’ll first discuss Weinberg and McCann’s foundational mental models for general decision-making, then explore professional applications. We’ll consider strategies to implement these models and compare the authors’ discussion of mental models with other similar works.

In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz contends that the vast array of choices presented to us leaves us stressed and indecisive. To lift this burden, Schwartz, a professor of social theory and social action, recommends we learn how to better navigate our choices, from groceries to health insurance.

Schwartz’s work combines psychology, economics, and his personal experiences. In this guide, we’ll examine the types of choices we face, the challenges of making choices, how excessive choices make these challenges more difficult, and how to live with expanded choice. Our guide adds scientific and cultural context to Schwartz’s ideas, plus updates on how choice has grown since the book’s publication.

During the 2016 US Presidential elections, at a time when pundits had Trump at 2% likelihood of winning, Dilbert creator Scott Adams predicted that Donald Trump would win -- primarily because of his persuasive power. According to Adams, what looked to outsiders like blunders were instead examples of a Master Persuader channeling a nation’s energy to help his candidacy.

Win Bigly describes the persuasion strategies Trump used throughout the campaign, how Hillary’s campaign fell short in comparison, and how you can apply these strategies to be more persuasive yourself. Learn the ranking of the most effective persuasion methods, why visual imagery is so powerful, and how to come up with killer slogans.

Do you want to become the master of your own mind? Do you struggle with thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that don’t align with your goals and aspirations? If so, Ryan A. Bush’s book Designing the Mind can help. Bush argues that the mind is like a computer that can be reprogrammed, and he provides a collection of strategies that will help you change the thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors that are holding you back into ones that help you become your best self.

In our guide, we’ll explore Bush’s assertion that you can treat your mind like a computer with software that can be adjusted to better suit your needs. We’ll also explore his strategies for rewriting unhelpful thought patterns, redirecting undesirable emotions, and optimizing your behavior to suit your goals and values. Our commentary will explore alternative methods for changing unwanted thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors. It’ll also provide a deeper look into some of the neurological and psychological phenomena behind Bush’s arguments.

Although people spend their entire lives learning, most of them are doing it wrong. Strategies like rereading and drilling a skill over and over to commit it to memory take a lot of time and ultimately don’t work.

Make It Stick teaches you the strategies that help you achieve the two primary goals of learning: To understand and remember what you learn so you can use your knowledge in future situations. In this summary, learn how a little forgetting helps you remember, and why you’re not a good judge of how much you know.

Do you want to achieve greater personal and professional success? In Million Dollar Habits, entrepreneur and motivational speaker Brian Tracy outlines proven strategies and habits that can propel you toward your goals. Whether you're seeking financial independence, a more rewarding career, or a heightened sense of well-being, Tracy's insights offer a clear roadmap to amplify your influence and impact.

In this guide, we’ll explore how a positive mindset and self-concept promote success. We’ll also discuss the role of good habits in building a successful life. Finally, we’ll dive into Tracy’s specific advice for achieving financial and personal success. In our commentary, we’ll look at other perspectives on what it means to be successful and delve deeper into the psychology behind habits.

In Happy Sexy Millionaire, Steven Bartlett calls out the myth that you can find happiness, love, and wealth if you just follow three simple steps and a hack or two. Bartlett says the internet, social media, and algorithms have dazzled us into believing that we can have the perfect life if we just chase the “right” dreams—a lie that pulls us off the path of genuine contentment, meaning, and fulfillment.

Bartlett, a social media mogul and public speaker, was born in Botswana to a Nigerian mother and British father and raised in a predominantly white area in England. A university dropout, once so poor that he scavenged for food, Bartlett founded the successful internet company Social Chain at age 21 and was by all objective accounts “living the dream.” But when wealth and fame didn’t bring him happiness, Bartlett reevaluated his priorities. He wrote Happy Sexy Millionaire to warn against chasing false idols and encourage others to find contentment and success by being themselves and doing what has meaning to them.