The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume

The human mind stores information contextually, including cues like Environment and correlation. Because the brain is a Pattern Matching machine, it’s constantly trying to figure out what’s associated with what. As a result, your mind effortlessly forms Associations—even between things that aren’t logically connected.

Our perceptual faculties are optimized to notice Contrast, not to compare what we perceive with things that aren’t there, which is the root of Absence Blindness. Everything we notice and every decision we make is based on information gathered from the surrounding Environment. That’s why camouflage works—it reduces the contrast between an object and

Phone calls, coworkers “dropping by to pick your brain,” and other unanticipated demands on your Attention will break your Monoideal state, so priority number one is ensuring that you don’t get distracted. I often use earplugs or play instrumental music to eliminate background noise, and disconnect the phone when I don’t want to be interrupted. Tur

Eliminating distractions can help prevent unnecessary interruptions, but it’s entirely possible to waste energy mentally thrashing even if you have the entire day free. The best approach to avoid unnecessary cognitive switching is to group similar tasks together. For example, I find it difficult to make progress on creative tasks (like writing or s

If the End Result you’re looking for is vague or fuzzy, you’re making it difficult for your mind’s automatic planning systems to find ways to get what you want.

We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are. —ANAÏS NIN, AUTHOR AND DIARIST

Either way, without supplying a Goal (discussed later), the system can’t operate. The same rule applies to Mental Simulation—no destination, no simulation.

As long as there are “move away from” signals being sent, you’ll have a hard time feeling motivated to move toward what you want. In the same vein, you can’t “motivate” other people by yelling at them to work faster—all the drill-sergeant approach accomplishes is making them want to move away from you. They may comply with you temporarily if they p

Whenever we inhibit our natural responses to our Environment, Willpower is at work. Our midbrain and hindbrain are the autopilot, and the forebrain is the override. In that sense, “free will” is a bit misleading— “free won’t” is a more accurate description.

The Internet is a massive temptation to me—I love learning new things, and the Web contains enough interesting information to keep me endlessly occupied. It’s easier for me to spend time reading rather than writing, but I write on a computer, which is the equivalent of keeping ice cream in my freezer—it’s always there, tempting me away from writing