Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work

a concept known as homo economicus or “the economic man.” The concept stipulates that human beings are rational, self-interested, and labor-averse creatures. It was formally introduced by British philosopher John Stuart Mill in the late nineteenth century, although eighteenth century thinkers like Adam Smith and David Ricardo frequently wrote about

No part of your situation is more vital to your success than your specific audience—whether that means your customers, prospects, readers, viewers, listeners, or even a boss or client you’re trying to help or persuade. For whom are you creating your work? Ask the right questions about them.

An aspirational anchor is a simple declaration of how you’ll make a difference in your life or the lives of others. Just to clarify again, this is your intent to make a difference, not a profit.

The key is knowing what parts of your work should be constrained.

“We need more makers in the world,” Suzy said. “We need more people following inspired ideas, and we need more people not doing it the way it’s always been done, because the way it’s always been done is not working.”

they’re building a company on the notion that they don’t have any answers. They understand their ideas may be wrong and that their knowledge must constantly be updated. They’re ruthless hunters of those little details swimming all around them.

it’s not enough to merely break from conventional thinking. The goal is to understand our situation enough to know whether or not the conventional approach is right for us.

So if cultural fluency is the symptom, the blocker to better thinking, then what’s the illness? What is the final barrier between you and taking action?

What if we spent more of our time focused on them? In the end, experts may know what works in general, but investigators supplement that broad wisdom with evidence.