Concepts

Explore concepts in the "Concepts" category

Total concepts: 661

10,000 Hour Rule - The idea that mastery requires roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
10x Thinking - Thinking in orders of magnitude rather than incremental improvements - aiming for ten times better.
20-Hour Rule - With focused practice, you can become reasonably good at most skills in just 20 hours.
Absurdism - Camus's philosophy confronting the conflict between human meaning-seeking and an indifferent universe.
Activation Energy (Psychology) - The initial effort required to start a behavior, determining likelihood of action.
Active Voice - Sentence construction where the subject performs the action, creating clearer, more direct prose.
Acute Stress - Short-term stress response to immediate challenges or threats that resolves when the situation passes.
Adaptive Learning - Technology-driven systems that adjust content and difficulty based on learner performance.
ADHD - A disorder of self-regulation affecting attention control and inhibitory functions.
Adjacent Possible - The range of possible next innovations given current knowledge, capabilities, and building blocks.
Age Quod Agis - The Latin phrase meaning 'do what you are doing' - be fully present in your actions.
Aha Moment - The sudden moment of insight when understanding or a solution clicks into place.
AI Agent - AI systems that can take actions, use tools, and pursue goals autonomously.
AI Alignment - Ensuring AI systems behave in accordance with human intentions and values.
AI Hallucination - When AI models generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or fabricated information.
AI Safety - Research and practices ensuring AI systems are beneficial and don't cause unintended harm.
AI Temperature - A parameter controlling the randomness and creativity of AI model outputs.
Akrasia - Acting against one's better judgment - knowing what's best but doing otherwise.
Allegory of the Cave - Plato's metaphor illustrating the journey from ignorance to enlightenment.
Allopathic Overload - Being stressed out from repeated and accumulated stress over time.
Allostatic Load - The cumulative wear and tear on the body from chronic stress and repeated adaptation.
Always Be Working (ABW) - An unhealthy mindset of constant productivity that leads to burnout.
Amor Fati - A Stoic and Nietzschean concept meaning 'love of fate' - embracing everything that happens.
Amygdala - The brain's emotional processing center, responsible for detecting threats and triggering fear responses.
Analogical Learning - Learning through comparison and analogy - mapping structures from familiar domains to new ones.
Analysis Paralysis - Overthinking a decision to the point of taking no action.
Anchoring - The cognitive bias where people rely heavily on the first piece of information they encounter.
Andragogy - The art and science of adult learning - how adults learn differently from children.
Anticipation Happiness - The positive emotions derived from looking forward to future experiences and events.
Antilibrary - A collection of unread books representing knowledge yet to be acquired.
Anxiety - A state of worry, unease, or fear about uncertain future events, ranging from normal to clinical levels.
Apatheia - The Stoic state of freedom from destructive emotional disturbance.
Arete - The Greek concept of excellence, virtue, and reaching one's highest potential.
Aristotelianism - Philosophical tradition based on Aristotle's teachings on ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Arrival Fallacy - The false belief that reaching a goal will bring lasting happiness and fulfillment.
Ars Longa Vita Brevis - The Latin phrase meaning 'art is long, life is short' - the contrast between craft and mortality.
Asynchronous Communication - Communication that doesn't require immediate response, allowing for thoughtful replies.
Ataraxia - The ancient Greek concept of tranquility - freedom from anxiety and mental disturbance.
Atomic Essays - Short, focused pieces of writing that explore a single idea completely.
Attention as Currency - Viewing attention as a limited resource that can be spent, invested, or wasted.
Attention Capitalism - An economic system where capturing and monetizing attention is the primary business model.
Attention Economy - An economic framework where human attention is the scarce resource being traded and monetized.
Attention Fatigue - The depletion of attentional capacity through sustained directed attention.
Attention Mechanism - An AI technique that allows models to focus on relevant parts of input when producing output.
Attention Merchants - Entities that capture attention and resell it to advertisers and others who want influence.
Attention Momentum - The tendency for focused attention to build and sustain itself over time.
Attention Residue - The mental carry-over effect where thoughts from a previous task linger and interfere with focus on a new task.
Attention Restoration - The recovery of focused attention capacity through exposure to restorative environments.
Attention Span - The length of time one can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted.
Attention Switching - Moving focus between tasks or stimuli, incurring cognitive costs with each transition.
Attention Types - The two fundamental categories of attention: directed (goal-driven) and stimulated (stimulus-driven).
Attention - The cognitive process of selectively focusing on relevant information while ignoring distractions.
Attentional Blink - A brief period after noticing one stimulus during which a second stimulus is likely missed.
Attentional Process - The cognitive mechanisms that control what information we select, focus on, and process.
Audience Acquisition Flywheel - A self-reinforcing cycle where content attracts audience, which generates more content and growth.
Audience Awareness - Understanding and writing for the specific people who will read your content.
Authentic Happiness - Martin Seligman's framework combining positive emotions, engagement, and meaning for wellbeing.
Authentic Leadership - Leading through genuine self-expression, values alignment, and transparent relationships.
Autodidacticism - Self-education without formal instruction - learning on your own initiative and direction.
Autonomic Nervous System - The nervous system division controlling involuntary functions like heart rate and digestion.
Balanced Reciprocity - A form of exchange where value given and received are roughly equivalent.
Base Rate - The underlying probability of an event before considering specific evidence or conditions.
Bayes' Theorem - A mathematical framework for updating beliefs based on new evidence.
Beginner's Mind - Shoshin - approaching experiences with openness, curiosity, and lack of preconceptions, like a beginner.
Behavioral Activation - A therapeutic approach focusing on engaging in meaningful activities to improve mood and break depression cycles.
Behavioral Contagion - The spread of behaviors through social groups, where observing others influences actions.
Benefits of Journaling - The many advantages of regular journaling for clarity, productivity, and personal growth.
Big Hairy Audacious Goals - Ambitious, inspiring long-term goals that create vision and shed light on the path ahead.
Bit Rot - The gradual degradation of software or data over time even without changes.
Black Swan - A rare, unpredictable event with major impact that is rationalized in hindsight.
Blocked vs Interleaved Practice - Practicing one skill repeatedly (blocked) versus mixing different skills (interleaved) - interleaving often wins.
Bottom-Up Attention - Attention captured automatically by salient stimuli in the environment.
Bright Lines - Clear, absolute rules that eliminate decision-making and reduce temptation.
Broaden and Build - Barbara Fredrickson's theory that positive emotions expand awareness and build lasting resources.
Buffer Hypothesis - The theory that social support protects against the harmful effects of stress.
Bundling vs Unbundling - Strategic decisions about combining or separating products and services.
Buridan's Ass - A philosophical paradox illustrating decision paralysis when faced with two equally attractive choices.
Burnout Phases - The twelve progressive stages from excessive ambition to complete physical and mental collapse.
Burnout - A state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and overwork.
Bus Factor - The number of team members who would need to be unavailable before a project stalls.
Buyer Persona - A semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on research and data.
Calm Business - A business that supports your lifestyle rather than forcing you to sacrifice it for growth.
Carpe Diem - The Latin phrase meaning 'seize the day' - making the most of present opportunities.
Catastrophizing - A cognitive distortion involving irrational thoughts that something is far worse than it actually is.
Celebrating Failure - Organizational practices that recognize and reward intelligent failures to promote learning.
Change Blindness - Failure to notice changes in visual scenes, especially during disruptions or when attention is elsewhere.
Character Strengths - The VIA classification of 24 positive personality traits organized under six core virtues.
Charismatic Leadership - Leadership through extraordinary personal qualities that inspire devotion and followership.
Choice Overload - When too many options leads to difficulty deciding and reduced satisfaction.
Chronic Stress - Prolonged activation of the stress response without adequate recovery, causing cumulative damage.
Chronotype - Your natural preference for when you feel most alert and productive during the day.
Cingulate Cortex - A brain region involved in emotion, decision-making, and cognitive control.
Circadian Rhythm - The body's internal 24-hour clock that regulates sleep-wake cycles and numerous physiological processes.
Circus Factor - The risk of team members leaving for more exciting opportunities elsewhere.
Clarity (Writing) - The quality of writing that makes meaning immediately understandable to readers.
Coaching Leadership - A leadership style focused on developing others through questions, feedback, and guided discovery.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - A psychological treatment that helps change unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors.
Cognitive Dissonance - The mental discomfort from holding contradictory beliefs or behaving inconsistently with beliefs.
Cognitive Distortions - Systematic patterns of biased thinking that negatively distort our perception of reality.
Cognitive Fusion - Being trapped by thoughts, treating them as literal truths rather than mental events.
Cognitive Load - The mental effort required to process information or complete tasks.
Cognitive Switching Penalty - The mental cost and time lost when shifting between different tasks or contexts.
Cognitive Work - Work that primarily involves thinking, analysis, problem-solving, and mental processing.
Collective Intelligence - The enhanced capability that emerges when groups think and learn together effectively.
Collector's Fallacy - The trap of collecting information without processing or using it.
Combinatorial Creativity - Creating new ideas by connecting and recombining existing concepts in novel ways.
Comfort Zone - A psychological state where activities feel familiar, routine, and safe, often limiting growth.
Compassion Fatigue - Emotional and physical exhaustion from caring for others in distress, reducing capacity for empathy.
Competency-Based Education - Education focused on demonstrated skills and knowledge rather than time spent in class.
Compound Growth - Exponential growth where returns generate additional returns over time.
Compression vs Context Tension - The tradeoff between brevity and providing enough background for understanding.
Concept Handle - A memorable phrase describing a complex or abstract idea.
Concept Network - A network of interconnected concepts that form the structure of understanding in a knowledge base.
Conciseness - Expressing ideas in as few words as possible while preserving meaning and clarity.
Confidence and Progress - Having a path is helpful, but confidence to take steps is crucial for making real progress.
Confidence Interval - A range of values that likely contains the true population parameter with a specified probability.
Consent Management - The process of obtaining, recording, and respecting user permission for data collection and use.
Consilience - When evidence from multiple independent sources converges to support the same conclusion.
Content Pillars - Core themes that form the foundation of a content strategy.
Context Switching - The mental cost of shifting attention between different tasks.
Continuous Partial Attention - The state of constantly scanning for new information while never fully focusing on any single thing.
Coordination Costs - The overhead required for multiple people to work together effectively on shared goals.
Correlation vs Causation - The critical distinction between two things occurring together and one actually causing the other.
Cortisol - The primary stress hormone that regulates the body's fight-or-flight response and various metabolic processes.
Creative Destruction - The process by which innovation continuously destroys and replaces old economic structures.
Cross-Functional Teams - Teams composed of members with different functional expertise working toward shared goals.
Cross-Pollination of Ideas - Connecting ideas from different domains leads to new insights.
Crossing the Chasm - The challenge of transitioning technology products from early adopters to mainstream market.
Curiosity Gap - A content technique that creates intrigue by hinting at valuable information without fully revealing it.
Curse of Knowledge - The cognitive bias where experts assume others share their knowledge, making it hard to explain things simply.
Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) - A graph with directed edges and no cycles, useful for representing dependencies and hierarchies.
Data Availability - The assurance that data and systems are accessible when needed by authorized users.
Data Breach - A security incident where protected or confidential data is accessed by unauthorized parties.
Data Confidentiality - Protecting data from unauthorized access and ensuring only authorized parties can view it.
Data Integrity - The accuracy, consistency, and reliability of data throughout its lifecycle.
Data Ownership - The concept of having property-like rights over data you create or that pertains to you.
Data Privacy - The right and ability to control how personal information is collected, used, and shared.
Data Smog - The pollution-like effect of excessive, low-quality information that clouds thinking and judgment.
Deadline Effect - The phenomenon of increased productivity and focus as deadlines approach.
Decentralization - Distributing control, data, or operations across multiple independent nodes rather than centralizing.
Decision Fatigue - The deteriorating quality of decisions after making many decisions.
Deep Knowledge Work - Cognitively demanding professional work that requires sustained concentration and expertise.
Default Alive Business - A business that will survive on its current trajectory without additional funding.
Default Effect - The power of pre-set options - people disproportionately stick with defaults.
Default Mode Network - A brain network active during rest and mind-wandering, associated with self-reflection and creativity.
Deferred Lifestyle - The trap of postponing life enjoyment and dreams for some future time that may never come.
Deliberate Thinking - Conscious, effortful thinking applied intentionally to complex problems.
Dependent Origination - The Buddhist teaching that all phenomena arise from conditions, nothing exists independently.
Depression - A mood disorder characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, and various cognitive and physical symptoms.
Desirable Difficulties - Learning challenges that slow initial performance but enhance long-term retention.
Dharma - The natural order, duty, righteousness, and truth - a central concept in Indian philosophy.
Digital Garden - An online space for cultivating and sharing evolving thoughts publicly.
Digital Mindfulness - Intentional, aware use of technology - choosing how you engage with digital tools rather than being driven by them.
Digital Sovereignty - The ability to maintain control over your own digital life, data, and technology choices.
Diminishing Returns - The principle that benefits decrease after reaching an optimal point of investment.
Directed Attention - Intentional, goal-driven focus aligned with internal objectives and personal goals.
Disruptive Innovation - Innovation that creates new markets by offering simpler, cheaper alternatives to existing solutions.
Distress - Negative stress that overwhelms coping ability and harms wellbeing and performance.
Divided Attention - Attempting to focus on multiple tasks or stimuli simultaneously, usually with reduced performance.
Docendo Discimus - The Latin phrase meaning 'by teaching, we learn' - teaching as a path to deeper understanding.
Domino Effect - A chain reaction where one event triggers a sequence of similar or related events.
Dopamine - A neurotransmitter that sets the threshold for motivation and goal pursuit, acting as a limited currency for action.
Dual Coding Theory - The theory that cognition processes verbal and visual information through separate systems.
Duck Syndrome - Appearing calm on the surface while frantically struggling underneath, common in high-pressure environments.
Dukkha - The Buddhist concept of suffering, dissatisfaction, and the unsatisfactoriness of conditioned existence.
Echo Chamber - An environment where beliefs are amplified by repetition within a closed system of like-minded people.
Effect Size - A measure of the magnitude or practical importance of a finding, independent of sample size.
Ego Depletion - The theory that self-control and willpower draw from a limited mental resource that gets depleted.
Email Overload - The overwhelming burden of excessive email volume that consumes time and fragments attention.
Embedding - Converting text, images, or other data into numerical vectors that capture semantic meaning.
Embrace Failure - The practice of welcoming failure as a necessary and valuable part of growth and achievement.
Emotional Burnout - A nervous system breakdown caused by accumulated emotional stress and pressure.
Emotional Contagion - The automatic transmission of emotions between people through social interaction.
Emotional Control - The ability to manage and regulate emotional responses to situations.
Emotional Granularity - The ability to make fine-grained distinctions between similar emotions, using precise emotional vocabulary.
Emotional Intelligence - The ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in yourself and others.
Emotional Regulation - The ability to manage and respond to emotional experiences in adaptive, healthy ways.
Empowering Leadership - Leadership that develops others' capabilities and autonomy rather than creating dependence.
Empty Cup - The Zen parable teaching that openness requires releasing preconceptions.
Encoding Specificity - Memory retrieval is better when the context at recall matches the context during learning.
Encoding - The process of converting information into memory traces.
Encryption - The process of encoding data so only authorized parties with the correct key can read it.
End-to-End Encryption - Encryption where only communicating parties can read messages, not even service providers.
Enso - The Zen circle - a symbol of enlightenment, strength, and the universe.
Equanimity - Mental calmness and composure, especially in difficult situations - being with what is without reactivity.
Ergodicity - Whether time averages equal ensemble averages - a crucial distinction for risk and decision-making.
Eternal Recurrence - Nietzsche's thought experiment: would you live your life exactly the same, infinitely?
Eudaimonia - Aristotle's concept of flourishing, living well, and fulfilling one's potential through virtue.
Eustress - Positive stress that motivates, focuses energy, and improves performance.
Examined Life - Socrates' teaching that a life worth living requires continual self-reflection and questioning.
Executive Presence - The qualities that signal readiness for senior leadership: gravitas, communication, and appearance.
Existential Authenticity - Living true to oneself by taking responsibility for creating one's own meaning and values.
Existentialism - A philosophy emphasizing individual existence, freedom, choice, and the creation of meaning.
Expertise Reversal Effect - Instructional methods effective for novices can become ineffective or even harmful for experts.
Explicit Knowledge - Knowledge that can be easily articulated, documented, and transferred through formal language.
Exponential Change - The accelerating pace of change driven by competition and innovation in modern society.
Extrinsic Motivation - Motivation driven by external factors like rewards, pressure, and consequences.
Failure Acceptance - Acknowledging failure without excessive self-criticism while maintaining motivation to improve.
Failure as Data - Treating each failure as an information point that refines understanding and strategy.
Failure as Feedback - Reframing failure as information about what doesn't work rather than personal inadequacy.
Failure as Identity - The harmful transformation of failure from an action (I failed) into an identity (I am a failure).
Failure Attribution - The explanations people create for why failures occurred, affecting learning and future behavior.
Failure Mindset - A perspective that views failure as necessary feedback and opportunity rather than defeat.
Failure Patterns - Recurring types of failures that share common characteristics and causes.
Failure Rate - The proportion of attempts that result in failure, used to calibrate expectations and strategies.
Failure Recovery - The process of bouncing back from failures while maintaining confidence and momentum.
Failure Stories - Narratives about failures that provide learning, connection, and encouragement to others.
Failure Tolerance - The capacity to accept and learn from failures without excessive negative response.
Failure Wisdom - The accumulated insight and judgment that comes from experiencing and reflecting on failures.
Fat Tails - Probability distributions where extreme events occur more frequently than normal distributions predict.
Favor Economy - The informal system of exchanging favors and assistance that underlies professional networks.
Fawn Response - A trauma response of people-pleasing and appeasing to avoid conflict and create safety.
Fear of Failure - The emotional response that prevents risk-taking due to concern about negative outcomes.
Feedback Loops of Encouragement and Discouragement - Early encouragement breeds confidence and success, while discouragement creates risk aversion and reduces confidence.
Feedforward Effect - People are more inclined to take action when they know what to expect beforehand.
Festina Lente - The Latin phrase meaning 'make haste slowly' - balancing speed with deliberation.
Filter Bubble - The intellectual isolation created when algorithms show only information matching existing preferences and beliefs.
Financial Independence - Having enough income from assets to cover living expenses without needing to work.
Flow Blockers - Conditions and behaviors that prevent entering or maintaining flow states.
Flow State - The state of complete immersion in an activity with effortless focus.
Flow Triggers - Conditions and practices that increase the likelihood of entering flow states.
Flywheels - Self-reinforcing cycles where each action builds momentum for the next.
Focus Environment - Physical and digital spaces designed to support concentrated cognitive work.
Focus Modes - Different types of concentrated attention suited to various cognitive tasks.
Folders as Silos - How traditional folder structures create information isolation and limit knowledge connections.
Forgetting Curve - The exponential decay of memory retention over time.
Formative Assessment - Ongoing assessment during learning that provides feedback to improve understanding.
Four Stages of Competence - A learning model describing the psychological states from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.
Fourth Place - A thinking space beyond home, work, and social environments.
Freeze Response - The immobilization response to overwhelming threat when fight or flight seems impossible.
Fresh Start Effect - The increased motivation to pursue goals following temporal landmarks that mark new beginnings.
Friendship Paradox - On average, your friends have more friends than you do.
Future Discounting - Valuing future outcomes less than equivalent present outcomes, often to an irrational degree.
Game Theory - The mathematical study of strategic decision-making between rational agents.
Generalized Reciprocity - Giving without expectation of direct return, trusting the community to reciprocate over time.
Generation Effect - Information is better remembered when generated than when merely read.
Generative AI - AI systems that create new content such as text, images, audio, or video.
Getting Started Problem - The specific challenge of initiating work, often harder than the work itself.
Gift Giving - The practice of presenting something to someone without expectation of direct payment.
Goal Gradient Effect - The tendency to increase effort as we approach a goal.
Golden Mean - Aristotle's principle that virtue lies between extremes of excess and deficiency.
Good Pain vs Bad Pain - Distinguishing between effort that leads to growth (good pain) and damage that harms you (bad pain).
Grateful Living - A life approach where gratitude becomes a foundational orientation rather than occasional practice.
Gratitude and Happiness - The research-supported relationship between gratitude practice and increased wellbeing.
Gratitude and Resilience - How gratitude practice builds psychological resilience and aids recovery from adversity.
Gratitude at Work - Applying gratitude practices in professional settings to improve culture and relationships.
Gratitude Benefits - The psychological, physical, and social advantages that result from practicing gratitude.
Gratitude Mindset - A habitual perspective that notices and appreciates the positive aspects of experiences.
Gratitude Reciprocity - The relationship between experiencing gratitude and engaging in reciprocal or generous behavior.
Gratitude Science - The research field studying the causes, effects, and mechanisms of gratitude.
Grounding - Techniques that bring attention to the present moment and body, reducing overwhelm and anxiety.
Group Decision Making - Processes for teams to reach decisions that leverage collective intelligence while avoiding pitfalls.
Group Flow - A collective state where teams experience synchrony, optimal performance, and shared engagement.
Growth Mindset - The belief that abilities can be developed through effort and learning.
Gut Feeling - Intuitive knowledge that emerges from experience without conscious reasoning.
Halo Effect - A cognitive bias where positive impressions in one area influence perceptions in unrelated areas.
Happiness Advantage - The finding that happiness leads to success more than success leads to happiness.
Happiness Equation - The formula H = S + C + V suggesting happiness comes from set-point, conditions, and voluntary activities.
Happiness Set Point - The baseline level of happiness to which individuals tend to return over time.
Happy Place - A mental or physical space where you can relax, recharge, and protect your peace.
Heart Rate Variability - The variation in time between heartbeats - a key indicator of stress resilience and nervous system health.
Hedonia - The pursuit of pleasure and positive emotional experiences as a path to wellbeing.
Hedonic Adaptation - The tendency to return to baseline happiness levels despite major positive or negative changes.
Hedonic Treadmill - The tendency to return to a baseline level of happiness despite positive or negative events.
Helper's High - The positive emotional and physical response experienced when helping others.
Heutagogy - Self-determined learning for complex, rapidly-changing environments - beyond self-directed learning.
Hic et Nunc - The Latin phrase meaning 'here and now' - emphasis on present moment awareness.
Hick's Law - Decision time increases logarithmically with the number of choices available.
Hidden Curriculum - The unwritten lessons, values, and norms taught implicitly through school culture and structure.
High-Concept Ideas - Ideas that can be explained in a single sentence while generating immediate interest.
Hippocampus - The brain region essential for forming new memories and spatial navigation.
Hot-Cold Empathy Gap - The difficulty of predicting how we'll feel or act when in a different emotional state.
Hot Paths - The critical decision points or actions that have outsized impact on outcomes.
Human-in-the-Loop - Systems design where humans remain actively involved in AI decision-making processes.
Human-Market Fit (HMF) - The alignment between an entrepreneur's personal strengths, interests, and their target market.
Humble Leadership - Leadership that prioritizes learning, admits limitations, and values others' contributions.
Hypercorrection Effect - High-confidence errors are more likely to be corrected when you receive feedback than low-confidence errors.
Hyperfocus - A state of intense concentration where you become completely absorbed in a task.
Hypothalamus - A brain region that regulates hormones, body temperature, hunger, and other vital functions.
Idea Sex - The concept that innovation comes from ideas combining and reproducing like biological organisms.
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) - A description of the company or customer type most likely to benefit from your offering.
Identity-Based Habits - Changing behavior by focusing on who you want to become, not what you want to achieve.
Identity Capital - Investments in who you are becoming - skills, experiences, and credentials that build identity.
Impermanence Teaching - The Buddhist teaching that all conditioned phenomena are transient and subject to change.
Impermanence - Anicca - the Buddhist teaching that all phenomena are temporary and constantly changing.
Impostor Syndrome - Persistent self-doubt and feeling like a fraud despite evidence of competence.
Inattentional Blindness - Failure to notice unexpected stimuli when attention is focused elsewhere.
Inclusive Leadership - Leadership that actively creates belonging and values diverse perspectives and contributions.
Incremental Innovation - Small, continuous improvements to existing products, processes, or services.
Infoglut - An overwhelming excess of available information that hampers rather than helps decision-making.
Information Anxiety - The stress and discomfort caused by the gap between what we know and what we feel we should know.
Information Architecture - The structural design of information systems to support findability and usability.
Information Asymmetry - A situation where one party has more or better information than another, creating imbalanced dynamics.
Information Diseases - Pathologies that affect information systems causing data loss, inaccessibility, or degradation.
Information Fatigue Syndrome - Mental exhaustion caused by exposure to excessive amounts of information.
Information Half-Life - The time period over which information loses half its value or relevance.
Information Hoarding - Compulsively collecting information without processing or using it.
Information Management - The systematic organization, storage, and retrieval of information.
Information Minimalism - Deliberately consuming less information to create space for deeper thinking and meaningful work.
Information Overload - Having too much information to process effectively.
Information Radiators - Visible displays that broadcast important information to anyone who passes by.
Information Snacking - Consuming small, bite-sized pieces of information rather than engaging with substantial, nourishing content.
Infovore - A person with an insatiable appetite for information, constantly seeking new knowledge and data.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) - Managing and provisioning infrastructure through code rather than manual processes.
Inner Critic - The internal voice of harsh self-judgment and negative self-evaluation.
Innovation Culture - Organizational values and practices that encourage experimentation, risk-taking, and new ideas.
Innovation Diffusion - How innovations spread through populations over time following predictable patterns.
Innovation Theater - Superficial innovation activities that create the appearance of progress without real change.
Innovator's Dilemma - The paradox where successful companies fail by doing what made them successful.
Instant Gratification Syndrome - The tendency to prefer immediate rewards over larger delayed rewards.
Integrated Thinking Environment (ITE) - A unified digital workspace designed to support all aspects of knowledge work and thinking.
Intellectual Quotient (IQ) - A measure of cognitive ability and problem-solving skills, often called raw intelligence.
Intelligent Failure - Failures that occur in pursuit of worthy goals, with appropriate risk management and learning.
Intention-Action Gap - The difference between what people intend to do and what they actually do.
Internal Goals - Personal objectives you set for yourself rather than those imposed by others.
Interoception - The sense of the internal state of the body, including signals like hunger, temperature, and heart rate.
Intrapreneurship - Entrepreneurial behavior within established organizations to drive innovation and new ventures.
Intrinsic Motivation - Internal drive from enjoyment and satisfaction rather than external rewards.
Elements of a Journal - The structural components of a journaling system: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly notes.
Just Noticeable Difference - The minimum change in a stimulus required for detection, with implications for change.
Kairos - The Greek concept of the right or opportune moment for action.
Karma - The principle that actions have consequences, shaping future experience and character.
Kintsugi Mindset - Embracing brokenness as part of beauty, inspired by the Japanese art of golden repair.
Know Thyself - The ancient Delphic maxim emphasizing self-knowledge as foundational to wisdom.
Knowledge Application - Using accumulated knowledge effectively to solve problems and achieve goals.
Knowledge Creation - The process of generating new knowledge through learning, synthesis, and insight.
Knowledge Debt - Accumulated learning you need to do but haven't, creating future liability.
Knowledge Economy - An economic system where knowledge and information are primary drivers of value creation.
Knowledge Organization - Systems and methods for structuring knowledge to enable retrieval and use.
Knowledge Retention - The ability to preserve and maintain learned information over time, preventing forgetting.
Knowledge Retrieval - Finding and accessing stored knowledge when needed for application or reference.
Knowledge Sharing - The practice of distributing knowledge, insights, and expertise to others.
Knowledge Silos - Organizational barriers that prevent information sharing across teams and departments.
Knowledge Transfer - Moving knowledge from one person, group, or context to another.
Knowledge Work Culture - Organizational values, norms, and practices that shape cognitive and information work.
Knowledge Work Future - Emerging trends and potential trajectories for cognitive and information-based work.
Knowledge Work Measurement - Approaches to evaluating the productivity and effectiveness of cognitive work.
Knowledge Work Productivity - Effective output in cognitive and information-based professional work.
Knowledge Work Skills - Capabilities required for effective cognitive and information-based professional work.
Knowledge Worker Challenges - The common problems knowledge workers face: information overload, cognitive load, context switching, and knowledge retrieval.
Knowledge Worker Environment - Physical and digital spaces designed to support cognitive and information work.
Knowledge Worker Habits - Recurring behaviors that support effective cognitive and information work.
Knowledge Worker Tools - Software, systems, and methods that enable effective cognitive and information work.
Knowledge Worker - A professional whose primary work involves creating, analyzing, and applying information.
Laser Focus - Concentrating attention on a single task at a time with intense, undivided focus.
Leader vs Manager - The distinction between inspiring change and vision (leadership) versus organizing and executing (management).
Leadership Development - Intentional processes to build leadership capabilities through experiences, relationships, and education.
Leadership Pipeline - A framework for developing leaders at each organizational level with appropriate skills and values.
Leadership Presence - The ability to project confidence, authenticity, and authority that inspires trust and followership.
Leadership Shadow - The lasting impact leaders have on culture and behavior through what they say, do, prioritize, and measure.
Leading by Example - Influencing others through personal behavior rather than just words or directives.
Learned Helplessness - A psychological state where repeated failures lead to giving up even when success becomes possible.
Learning Curve - The rate of improvement in performing a task as experience accumulates.
Learning from Failure - The practice of extracting lessons and insights from failures to improve future performance.
Learning Transfer - The ability to apply knowledge or skills learned in one context to new, different situations.
Level 5 Leadership - The highest level of leadership combining fierce professional will with personal humility.
Leverage Points - Places to intervene in systems where small changes can produce large effects.
Looks Good To Me (LGTM) - A code review approval indicating the reviewer finds no issues with proposed changes.
Life Satisfaction - The cognitive judgment of one's life as a whole against personal standards and aspirations.
Lifetime Memberships - One-time payment for permanent access to a product or community.
Lifetime Value (LTV) - The total revenue expected from a customer over the entire relationship.
Limiting Beliefs - Self-imposed mental constraints that hold you back from reaching your potential.
Link Rot - The gradual decay of hyperlinks as web pages move, change, or disappear over time.
Living on Default - The tendency to take the path of least resistance rather than actively choosing what aligns with your potential.
Local-First - Software design where data lives primarily on your devices, with cloud as optional sync.
Logotherapy - A psychotherapy approach centered on finding meaning as the primary motivational force in life.
Long Tail Distribution - A distribution where many low-frequency items collectively represent significant aggregate value.
Luck and Success - The role of chance and circumstance in outcomes, and how to increase your luck surface area.
Luck Surface Area - Increasing opportunities for luck by doing more and telling more people.
Maker vs Manager Schedule - The distinction between schedules optimized for creation (long blocks) versus coordination (hourly slots).
Massed vs Distributed Practice - Cramming (massed) versus spreading practice over time (distributed) - distributed wins for retention.
Mastery Approach - Focusing on learning, improvement, and skill development rather than demonstrating performance.
Matthew Effect - The rich get richer phenomenon where early advantages compound over time.
Mean, Median, and Mode - Three different measures of central tendency, each useful in different contexts.
Meaningful Pursuits - Activities that provide purpose and significance beyond mere pleasure or achievement.
Mental Accounting - The tendency to treat money differently based on subjective categories.
Mental Context - The cognitive state and loaded information needed for a specific task.
Mental Energy - The cognitive resources available for thinking, deciding, and creating.
Mentorship - A developmental relationship where an experienced person guides another's growth and career.
Mere Measurement Effect - The phenomenon where asking about intentions increases the likelihood of those behaviors.
Metacognition of Attention - Awareness and monitoring of one's own attention and attentional processes.
Micromanagement - Excessive control over details and decisions that should be delegated.
Middle Way - The Buddhist path of moderation between extremes of indulgence and asceticism.
Mindfulness - Present-moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and environment without judgment.
Mindshare - The amount of attention or awareness a brand or idea occupies in people's minds.
Minimum Effective Dose - The smallest input that produces a desired outcome, maximizing efficiency.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) - The simplest version of a product that can be released to test a hypothesis with real users.
Mirror Neurons - Neurons that fire both when performing an action and when observing someone else perform the same action.
Monkey Mind - The Buddhist term for an unsettled, restless mind that jumps from thought to thought like a monkey in trees.
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) - Predictable monthly revenue from subscriptions and recurring customers.
Moonshot Thinking - Pursuing radical, seemingly impossible breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements.
Mu - The Zen concept meaning 'nothing' or 'not' - transcending yes and no.
Multimodal AI - AI systems that can process and generate multiple types of content like text, images, and audio.
Multiple Intelligences Theory - Howard Gardner's theory that intelligence comprises multiple distinct types rather than a single ability.
Multitasking - Attempting to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, which reduces effectiveness.
Narrative Identity - The internalized story of the self that provides life with unity and purpose.
Narrative Structure - The framework organizing how a story or piece of content unfolds over time.
Near vs Far Transfer - Near transfer applies to similar contexts; far transfer applies to very different domains - and is much harder.
Negative Reciprocity - Exchange where one party attempts to maximize gain at the other's expense.
Nemo Propheta in Patria - No one is a prophet in their own land - expertise is often more valued by outsiders.
Neostoicism - Modern revival of Stoic philosophy adapted for contemporary life and challenges.
Nervous System Regulation - The ability to shift between activation and calm states, maintaining balance in the autonomic nervous system.
Neuroplasticity - The brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.
Non-Attachment - Freedom from clinging to outcomes, possessions, or experiences - holding things lightly.
Non-Duality - The philosophical teaching that subject and object, self and other, are ultimately not separate.
Non-Judgmental Awareness - Observing experiences without labeling them as good or bad, right or wrong.
Normal Distribution - The bell curve pattern where most values cluster around the mean with symmetric tails.
North Star Metric - The single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers.
Note-taking vs Note-making - The distinction between capturing external information and creating your own knowledge.
Notification Fatigue - Mental exhaustion and desensitization caused by constant digital alerts and interruptions.
Now Page - A webpage showing what you're focused on at this point in your life.
Obligation Principle - The psychological mechanism that creates feelings of debt and duty to repay after receiving.
Open Innovation - Using external ideas and paths to market alongside internal innovation capabilities.
Open Loops - Incomplete tasks and unresolved commitments that occupy mental space.
Operating Rhythm - Recurring patterns of meetings, reviews, and activities that drive organizational execution.
Opportunity Cost - The loss of potential gain from alternatives when one option is chosen.
Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell's analysis of the hidden factors behind extraordinary success.
Overcoming Inertia - The challenge of starting is often the hardest step, but once in motion, momentum makes subsequent steps easier.
Overlapping Realities - Each person experiences a different version of reality based on their unique perspective.
Overlearning - Continuing practice beyond initial mastery to achieve deeper retention and automaticity.
Overnight Success Myth - The illusion that successful people achieved their success quickly, hiding years of work behind the scenes.
Overton Window - The range of ideas considered politically acceptable at a given time.
Overwhelmed By Life Today (OBLT) - The modern condition of being overwhelmed by disorganization, noise, and scattered attention.
Paradigm Shifts - Fundamental changes in underlying assumptions that transform understanding.
Paradox of Choice - Having too many options leads to anxiety and decision paralysis.
Path Dependence - The phenomenon where history and early choices constrain or determine later possibilities.
Pattern of Procrastination (PoP) - A framework for understanding the recurring patterns and triggers behind procrastination.
Peak Experiences - Maslow's concept of transcendent moments of profound joy, wonder, and meaning.
Peak Performance - Optimal functioning state where skills, focus, and energy align for exceptional output.
Perfectionism - The pursuit of flawlessness that can prevent progress and completion.
Performance Approach - Focusing on demonstrating competence and outperforming others rather than learning.
Personal Data - Any information that can identify or be used to identify an individual person.
Personal Information Silos - Information trapped in disconnected systems that cannot communicate with each other.
Personalized Learning - Tailoring education to individual needs, strengths, interests, and pace.
Phantom Workload - Hidden work that consumes time and energy but doesn't appear in formal task lists.
Phases of Camera Confidence - The three stages of camera confidence: Horrifying, Abiding, and Inspiring.
Phronesis - Aristotle's concept of practical wisdom - knowing what to do in specific situations.
Pillar Pieces - Comprehensive, authoritative content that serves as foundational reference material.
Pivot or Persevere - The structured decision to either change course based on learning or continue current direction.
Pivotal Behaviors - The few high-leverage behaviors that drive disproportionate results in any change effort.
Pleasure vs Meaning - The distinction between hedonic happiness (feeling good) and eudaimonic wellbeing (living well).
Polymath - A person with expertise across multiple fields who integrates knowledge creatively.
Polyvagal Theory - Stephen Porges' theory of a three-part nervous system hierarchy: social engagement, fight/flight, and freeze.
Portfolio Thinking - Managing a diverse collection of projects, skills, or investments for balanced growth and risk.
Positive Deviance - Finding and learning from individuals who succeed despite facing the same constraints as others.
Positive Emotions - Pleasant emotional states like joy, gratitude, and contentment that enhance wellbeing and capability.
Positive Feedback Loop - A cycle where outputs amplify inputs, creating exponential growth or decline.
Positive-Sum Game - A situation where total value can expand so all participants can benefit simultaneously.
Positivity Ratio - The balance of positive to negative emotional experiences that predicts flourishing.
Post-Traumatic Growth - Positive psychological change that can emerge from struggling with highly challenging life circumstances.
Power Law - A statistical distribution where small occurrences are extremely common and large occurrences extremely rare.
Preference Falsification - Misrepresenting one's preferences to conform to perceived social expectations.
Prefrontal Cortex - The brain region responsible for executive functions like planning, decision-making, and impulse control.
Present Bias - The tendency to disproportionately prefer immediate rewards over larger future rewards.
Present Moment Awareness - Attention to the here and now, free from rumination about the past or worry about the future.
Price Anchoring - A pricing psychology technique where the first price shown influences perception of subsequent prices.
Process vs State Knowledge - Distinguishing between knowing how things work (process) versus knowing what the current state is.
Procrastination Equation - The formula: Motivation = (Expectancy × Value) / (Impulsiveness × Delay).
Procrastination in Disguise - Activities that feel productive but actually delay meaningful work on important goals.
Procrastination Types - Different patterns and causes of procrastination requiring different intervention strategies.
Product Market Fit (PMF) - The degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand.
Production Effect - Speaking information aloud improves memory compared to silent reading.
Productive Failure - Struggling with problems before receiving instruction leads to deeper learning than instruction-first approaches.
Productive Procrastination - Doing useful but lower-priority tasks to avoid more important or difficult work.
Productized Services - Services packaged with fixed scope, price, and deliverables like a product.
Prompt-Driven Development (PDD) - Using AI prompts as the primary interface for software development tasks.
Psychological Safety - The belief that one can speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable without fear of punishment or humiliation.
Pull Request (PR) - A code review mechanism proposing changes for discussion before merging into main code.
Pygmalion Effect - Higher expectations lead to improved performance due to changed behavior toward those expected to succeed.
Radical Acceptance - Fully accepting reality as it is, without trying to change it or wishing it were different.
Radical Innovation - Breakthrough innovations that fundamentally change markets, industries, or behaviors.
Radical Self-Acceptance - Fully accepting yourself - including flaws and limitations - without conditions or judgment.
Random Acts of Kindness - Unprompted, spontaneous acts of generosity toward others without expectation of return.
Rationalism - The philosophical view that reason is the primary source of knowledge and truth.
Reciprocity Bias - The cognitive tendency to feel obligated to return favors, even when disproportionate.
Reciprocity Norm - The unwritten social rule that people should help those who have helped them.
Reciprocity Rule - The informal guideline to repay in kind what another person has provided.
Redefining Success - Moving beyond external measures to define success on your own terms, aligned with your values.
Reductio ad Absurdum - A logical argument that establishes a claim by showing the opposite leads to absurd conclusions.
Relaxation Response - Herbert Benson's term for the physiological opposite of the stress response - deliberate activation of calm.
Remote Collaboration - Working effectively with others across geographic distance using digital tools and practices.
Resilience - The capacity to recover from difficulties, adapt to change, and keep going in the face of adversity.
Resistance to Starting - The psychological barrier that makes beginning tasks more difficult than continuing them.
Retrieval - The process of accessing and bringing stored information into consciousness.
Return on Investment (ROI) - A measure of the gain or loss generated relative to the amount invested.
Right to Be Forgotten - The right to have personal data erased when it's no longer needed or consent is withdrawn.
Role Stress - Stress from conflicting role expectations, ambiguous responsibilities, or role overload.
Rumination - Repetitive, passive thinking about negative emotions, their causes, and consequences without taking action.
Safe-to-Fail - Experiments designed so that failure produces learning without catastrophic consequences.
Sample Size - The number of observations in a study, critical for the reliability and precision of findings.
Sapere Aude - The Latin phrase meaning 'dare to know' - courage to use one's own understanding.
Satori - The Zen Buddhist concept of sudden enlightenment or awakening to true nature.
Schelling Point - A solution people converge on naturally without explicit communication.
Scope Creep - The gradual expansion of project boundaries beyond original definitions.
Second-Order Effects - The indirect consequences that result from the immediate outcomes of our decisions and actions.
Second-Order Thinking - Considering the consequences of consequences before making decisions.
Selection Bias - Distortion in analysis caused by non-random sampling or systematic exclusion of data.
Selective Attention - The cognitive process of focusing on specific stimuli while filtering out others.
Self-Actualization - Maslow's highest need - realizing your full potential and becoming the best version of yourself.
Self-Compassion - Treating yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a good friend during difficult times.
Self-Directed Learning - Taking initiative and responsibility for your own learning process, from goals to evaluation.
Self-Discipline - The ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
Self-Efficacy - Your belief in your ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish specific tasks.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy - A prediction that causes itself to become true through the expectation's influence.
Self-Hosted - Running services on infrastructure you control rather than relying on third-party providers.
Self-Sabotage - Unconscious behaviors and thought patterns that undermine your own success and goals.
Self-Transcendence - Going beyond self-interest to connect with something larger than oneself.
Serendipity - Fortunate unexpected discoveries that emerge from good systems.
Serotonin - A neurotransmitter that regulates mood, sleep, appetite, and feelings of well-being and contentment.
Servant Leadership - A leadership philosophy prioritizing service to team members and enabling their growth and success.
Serviceable Available Market (SAM) - The segment of TAM targeted by your products that is within your geographical reach.
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) - The realistic portion of SAM that you can capture given current resources and competition.
Shadow Side - The hidden, often unconscious aspects of personality we don't readily acknowledge.
Shadow Work - The process of exploring and integrating unconscious aspects of your personality.
Shallow Work - Non-cognitively demanding, logistical tasks that don't create much new value.
Shared Responsibility - Distributing ownership and accountability across team members rather than concentrating it.
Shared Understanding - Common knowledge, perspectives, and mental models that enable effective team collaboration.
Sharpness of Thinking - The ability to see concepts clearly, reason precisely, and connect ideas in novel ways.
Shiny Object Syndrome - The tendency to chase new tools and methods instead of mastering current ones.
Signal Detection Theory - A framework for understanding how we distinguish meaningful information (signal) from noise.
Signal to Noise Ratio - The ratio of useful information to irrelevant or distracting information.
Signal vs Noise - Distinguishing meaningful patterns from random variation or irrelevant information.
Signs of Perfectionism - Recognizing the warning signs that perfectionism is holding you back from progress and success.
Simpson's Paradox - A phenomenon where trends in aggregated data reverse when data is separated into subgroups.
Situational Leadership - Adapting leadership style based on the development level and needs of each team member.
Skunkworks - A small, autonomous team given freedom to work on breakthrough innovations outside normal structures.
Sleep Architecture - The structure and pattern of sleep stages that cycle throughout the night, each serving distinct functions.
Sleep Debt - The cumulative cost of inadequate sleep that must eventually be repaid.
Sludge - Friction in processes that makes desired actions harder or discourages beneficial behavior.
Small Sample Fallacy - The error of drawing strong conclusions from insufficient data.
Smart Notes - Notes designed for reuse, connection, and long-term value.
Social Capital - The networks, relationships, and trust that enable cooperation and collective action.
Social Exchange - A sociological theory viewing human relationships as involving exchange of resources and rewards.
Sophrosyne - The Greek virtue of moderation, self-control, and temperance.
Spacing Effect - Learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out over time.
Spatial Intelligence - The cognitive ability to think in three dimensions, visualize objects, and mentally manipulate spatial information.
Spiral Curriculum - Revisiting topics at increasing complexity as learners develop - building depth through repetition.
Sponsorship - Active career advocacy by senior leaders who use their influence to advance someone's opportunities.
Standard Deviation - A measure of how spread out values are from the mean.
State-Dependent Learning - Information learned in one mental or physical state is better recalled in that same state.
Statistical Significance - A measure of whether observed results are likely due to chance or represent a real effect.
Stimulated Attention - Reactive attention captured by external stimuli, often leading to distraction and time waste.
Stoic Archer - Focus on what you can control (aim) while accepting what you cannot (wind, outcome).
Stoic Values - The four cardinal virtues of Stoicism: wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance.
Stoicism - An ancient philosophy teaching virtue, patience, and focusing on what you can control.
Stress Mindset - Your beliefs about stress - whether you view it as enhancing or debilitating - affects how it actually impacts you.
Stress Response - The body's automatic physiological and psychological reaction to perceived threats or demands.
Structured Thinking - Applying frameworks and systematic approaches to organize and analyze complex problems.
Subject-Matter Expert (SME) - A person with deep knowledge and expertise in a specific domain.
Subjective Wellbeing - A person's own evaluation of their life including emotional experiences and life satisfaction.
Subscription Business Model - A revenue model where customers pay recurring fees for ongoing access to a product or service.
Success Breeds Confidence - Success creates confidence which leads to more success, while failure can damage confidence and create negativity.
Success Identity - Seeing yourself as someone who succeeds - identity-level belief in your capacity for achievement.
Success Metrics - How you define and measure success - the criteria by which you evaluate achievement.
Success Principles - Timeless patterns and practices that consistently contribute to achievement across domains.
Success Spiral - A positive feedback loop where achievements build confidence and resources for further achievements.
Success Trap - When past success prevents necessary adaptation and becomes an obstacle to future success.
Success Without Fulfillment - Achieving external goals but feeling empty - success that doesn't bring meaning or satisfaction.
Succession Planning - Systematic preparation for leadership transitions to ensure organizational continuity.
Summative Assessment - Evaluation at the end of a learning period to measure what has been learned.
Sunk Cost Effect - The tendency to continue an endeavor because of past investment, regardless of future value.
Sustainable Success - Achieving and maintaining success without burning out or sacrificing wellbeing and relationships.
Sustained Attention - The ability to maintain focus on a task over extended periods.
Sustaining Innovation - Incremental improvements to existing products that serve current customers better.
Scientific Wild-Ass Guess (SWAG) - An educated estimate based on experience and intuition rather than rigorous analysis.
Switching Costs - The costs incurred when changing from one product, service, or state to another.
Stale-While-Revalidate (SWR) - A caching strategy that returns cached data while fetching updated data in the background.
Sympatheia - The Stoic concept of universal interconnectedness and mutual sympathy of all things.
Synchronous Communication - Real-time communication where all parties participate simultaneously.
Synthesis - Combining multiple ideas, sources, or elements into a coherent new whole.
System Trashing - When a system is overloaded and spends more time managing itself than doing useful work.
T-Shaped Skills - Having deep expertise in one area combined with broad knowledge across multiple fields.
Tacit Knowledge - Knowledge that is difficult to articulate, transfer, or codify - learned through experience and intuition.
Talent vs Effort - The debate about whether innate ability or sustained effort matters more for achievement.
Tao (Dao) - The fundamental concept in Taoism - the way, path, or natural order of the universe.
Task Initiation - The executive function skill of beginning tasks without excessive delay or procrastination.
Task Momentum - The tendency for ongoing work to continue more easily than starting or restarting.
Team Dynamics - The behavioral patterns and psychological forces that influence how teams function and perform.
Technical Debt - The implied cost of future rework caused by choosing quick solutions over better approaches.
Technology Adoption Lifecycle - The stages through which different user groups adopt new technologies over time.
Technostress - Stress caused by technology use, constant connectivity, and the pressure to keep up with digital demands.
Temporal Discounting - The behavioral economics concept of reduced valuation of rewards as they are delayed in time.
Temporal Landmarks - Significant dates that create psychological fresh starts and motivation for new behaviors.
Temporal Motivation Theory - A theory explaining how motivation changes based on the timing of rewards and costs.
Temporal Tags - Tags that capture time-based context like seasons, life stages, or project phases.
Tempus Fugit - The Latin phrase meaning 'time flies' - a reminder of time's swift passage.
Tend and Befriend - A stress response alternative to fight-or-flight, especially common in women - nurturing and seeking social support.
Testing Effect - Learning is enhanced when you retrieve information through testing rather than just re-reading or reviewing.
Thank You Economy - Gary Vaynerchuk's concept that genuine care and gratitude drive business success in the social age.
The Obstacle Is The Way - The Stoic teaching that difficulties become opportunities for growth and virtue.
Third Place - Social environments separate from home (first) and work (second) that foster community.
This Too Shall Pass - Ancient wisdom reminding us of the impermanence of all states, both good and bad.
Thought Leadership - Establishing expertise and influence through sharing innovative ideas and original perspectives.
Threshold Concepts - Transformative ideas that open new ways of thinking - once crossed, you can't go back.
Tiered Pricing - A pricing strategy offering multiple price points for different feature levels or customer segments.
Time Affluence - The subjective feeling of having abundant time, enabling presence and intentional choices.
Time Blindness - Difficulty perceiving time accurately, common in ADHD and affecting planning.
Time Blocking Failure Modes - Common ways time blocking fails and strategies to address them.
Time Confetti - Fragmented bits of time scattered throughout the day that are hard to use productively.
Time Freedom - The ability to choose how you spend your time without external constraints or demands.
Time Horizons - Different time scales for planning, from daily tasks to lifetime goals.
Time Investment - Spending time now in ways that create returns of time, value, or capability in the future.
Time Optimism - The tendency to underestimate how long tasks will take and overcommit future time.
Time Perspective - An individual's habitual orientation toward past, present, or future that shapes behavior.
Time Poverty - The chronic feeling of having too little time despite increases in objective free time.
Time Scarcity Mindset - A mental framework that perceives time as perpetually insufficient, driving rushed behavior.
Time Wealth - Having discretionary time for meaningful activities, often more valuable than financial wealth.
Too Much Information (TMI) - Sharing more information than is appropriate or useful for the context.
Tokenization - Breaking text into smaller units (tokens) that AI models can process.
Top-Down Attention - Voluntary attention directed by goals, intentions, and conscious choice.
Total Addressable Market (TAM) - The total market demand for a product or service if 100% market share were achieved.
Traction - Actions that pull us toward achieving our goals, the opposite of distraction.
Transclusion - Embedding content from one note into another while maintaining a live link.
Transformational Leadership - Leadership that inspires followers to transcend self-interest and achieve exceptional outcomes.
Transformer - The neural network architecture underlying modern AI language models.
Transition Costs - The mental and temporal overhead of moving between different tasks or contexts.
Trauma - A deeply distressing experience that overwhelms one's ability to cope, with lasting psychological effects.
Troublesome Knowledge - Knowledge that is conceptually difficult, counterintuitive, or challenges existing beliefs.
Trust Building - The deliberate actions that establish and strengthen interpersonal and team trust over time.
Type I and Type II Errors - False positives (detecting an effect that isn't there) and false negatives (missing an effect that exists).
Types of Rest - Seven types of rest we all need: physical, mental, emotional, social, creative, spiritual, sensory.
Types of Tags - Different tag categories used to classify and retrieve information effectively.
Übermensch - Nietzsche's ideal of the self-overcoming human who creates their own values.
Ultracrepidarianism - Giving opinions on matters beyond one's knowledge or expertise.
Ultradian Rhythms - Natural 90-120 minute cycles of energy and focus that occur throughout the day.
Undivided Attention - Giving complete focus to a person or task without multitasking or distraction.
Unfair Advantage - A unique edge that cannot be easily copied or bought by competitors.
Unlearning - The process of discarding outdated or incorrect knowledge and habits.
Urgency Addiction - The compulsive need for urgent tasks and crises, avoiding important but non-urgent work.
Vagal Tone - The activity level of the vagus nerve - a key indicator of stress resilience and emotional regulation capacity.
Vagus Nerve - The longest cranial nerve connecting the brain to major organs, key to the relaxation response.
Value Alignment - Matching behavior, decisions, and life design to personal core values.
Variance - A measure of the spread of values, calculated as the average squared deviation from the mean.
Velocity vs Speed - Distinguishing productive progress toward goals from mere activity or motion.
Vicious Circle - A negative feedback loop where problems create conditions that worsen the problems.
Viral Loop - A growth mechanism where each user brings in additional users through inherent product mechanics.
Virtuous Circle - A positive feedback loop where success reinforces behaviors that lead to more success.
Virtuous Cycle vs Vicious Cycle - Self-reinforcing feedback loops that spiral upward (virtuous) or downward (vicious).
Visionary Leadership - Leadership centered on creating and communicating compelling visions of the future.
Voice (Writing) - The distinctive style, personality, and perspective that makes writing recognizably yours.
Wabi-Sabi - The Japanese aesthetic of finding beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness.
Who Knows Anyway - Others do not necessarily know more than you; impressions should not stop you from pursuing your ideas.
Will to Power - Nietzsche's concept of the fundamental drive toward growth, overcoming, and self-mastery.
Willpower as Muscle - The model that willpower can be strengthened through exercise and depleted through use.
Window of Tolerance - The optimal zone of nervous system arousal where we can function effectively and cope with stress.
Winner Effect - Winning increases testosterone and confidence, improving chances of winning again.
Work-Life Balance - The equilibrium between professional work and personal life activities.
Work-Life Fit - Finding your personal harmony between work demands and life goals rather than seeking perfect balance.
Work-Life Integration - An approach where life takes priority and work is adjusted to fit around personal goals, not the reverse.
Working Memory - The limited-capacity system for temporarily holding and manipulating information.
Write Once Read Never - Information that is captured but never accessed again.
Writer's Block - The experience of being unable to write, often due to perfectionism, fear, or unclear thinking.
Writing Data Flywheel - A compound effect where writing generates data that improves future writing.
Writing Process - The stages and workflow of creating written content from idea to finished piece.
Writing Routine - Consistent habits and practices that support regular, productive writing.
Wu Wei - The Taoist concept of effortless action - achieving through non-forcing.
Yin and Yang - The Chinese philosophical concept of complementary opposites that create wholeness.
Zebras vs Unicorns - Zebra companies aim to be profitable while improving society, unlike growth-obsessed unicorns.
Zeigarnik Effect - The tendency to remember uncompleted tasks better than completed ones.
Zero Knowledge - A principle where service providers cannot access user data, even if they wanted to.
Zero-Sum vs Positive-Sum - Distinguishing situations where gains require losses from those where everyone can benefit.

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