Templates
Mental models that ask the right questions
Each model is a set of boxes with one guide line in each, so you always know what to write next. Fill it in, and the last box turns it into one clear move.
Eisenhower Matrix
Sort everything by impact and urgency, then find the one thing that makes the rest easier.
SWOT analysis
Map what helps and hurts you, inside and out, then make the four boxes talk to each other.
First principles thinking
Strip a goal, problem or skill down to what must be true, then rebuild from those pieces only.
OODA loop
See it, make sense of it, choose, act, and go round again before the situation changes.
Circle of competence
Map your edge, the edge of your competence, and what is not your thing. Then move one thing inward.
Debrief
Take a finished task, project or goal apart: what you meant, what happened, why, and one change.
Brain dump
Get everything out of your head onto one page, then map it into a chart or a model.