Maintaining Sacred Spaces By Carving Out a Secret Places and Rituals for Yourself and Your Family

If any of you remember the television show Boston Legal, each episode ended with two main characters, great lawyers Denny Crane and Alan Shore, having drinks and cigars on the balcony discussing the cases and events of their day.  They were best friends that took time to block of a private area of their lives that [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Micawber Principle

In Charles Dickens’s novel, David Copperfield, published in 1850, the eternal optimist Wilkins Micawber was known for saying “something will turn up”.  He was poor but lived in expectation of becoming rich, sometimes foolishly taking on debts due to the belief.  We have Micawber to thank for one of the most famous sayings in personal [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Gaslighting

One of the big themes that I perpetually hit upon is that you, as a rational, responsible adult, should not outsource your thinking.   When it comes to what matters in life, you must rely on your own judgment and analysis of the facts.  In the words of Benjamin Graham, “You are neither right nor [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Horns Effect and Halo Effect

One of the most powerful, and potentially harmful, mental models you will encounter in your life is known as the horns effect and halo effect.  It can cloud your judgment, and because it is closely related to the mere association mental model, has the power to cause you to make sub-standard decisions or hold irrational [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Thief Among Us

One of the things that has perplexed me for a long time is Charlie Munger’s insistence that a significant minority of humanity is wired in such a way that they will steal if given the opportunity, regardless of whether or not they need the resources they are taking from another person.  Whether this is an [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Do You Rely on Intuition or Reflective Reasoning When Drawing Conclusions?

There is a quick test that can help you determine if you rely on intuition or reflective reasoning (intellect) when making decision.  Answer the following question as quickly as possible: “A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”  Do you [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Wendy’s Brilliantly Relies on Mental Models from Psychology to Reinvent the Classic Wendy’s Cheeseburger

Wendy’s recent commercial introducing the remade cheeseburger named after founder Dave Thomas is one of the best examples of marketing and psychology I’ve ever seen.  It’s brilliant; mental models applied in a constructive way.   I’m not going to take the fun out of it, but be on the lookout for some of the clues [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Calibration Errors

Calibration errors are when people lack the genetic or cultural ability to calibrate communication based upon the situation, people involved, or other contextual clues.  To understand calibration errors as a mental model,  it might help to give you three real-world scenarios that would require the observer to calibrate the hyperbole. A group of frat boys [...]

from Joshua Kennon

To Have a More Successful Life, Understand the Motivations and Motives of Yourself and the People Around You

Last month, I promised to pull more essays from my past out of the file cabinet.  This one dealt with motives and understanding how they influence human behavior.  This insight is one of the reasons I decided to avoid going to work on Wall Street after graduating from college and instead putting my higher goal [...]

from Joshua Kennon

A Secret Glimpse Into My Psychology Profile, Compliance Theory, and Autism

All this talk about psychology, Myers-Briggs personality test results, etc. led to some conversations involving a paradox that very few people know about my personality. On the Autism-Spectrum Quotient test, I scored a 12.  The average score of the control group was 16.4 and someone diagnosed with Autism generally scores above a 32. On the Empathy Quotient test, my [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Aaron’s Myers-Briggs Personality Test Results

After finding my own Myers-Briggs scores, I also found Aaron’s Myers-Briggs scores from way-back-when.  Whereas I am an ENTJ, he is an INTJ (“Introvert, Intuition, Thinking, Judgment”).  For those who didn’t read the earlier post, we were required to take the Myers-Briggs personality test our Freshman year of college and, again, a few years later as part [...]

from Joshua Kennon

My Myers-Briggs Personality Test Results

Going through old records, I found the results of my Myers-Briggs personality test from my Freshman year of college.  A few years later, we were required to retake the exam as part of a leadership exercise and got identical results from the first round.  (Confession: We weren’t supposed to see the results of the second [...]

from Joshua Kennon

How Extended Adolescence Is Changing the United States (And Takes a Much Higher Toll on Women)

For the past few years, I’ve kept a file on extended adolescence because it is one of the most common symptoms I see among the thousands of messages I receive each year from readers asking for advice.  Often, they are dissatisfied with the way their life is going, yet they almost inevitably suffer from extended [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Using the Primary Mission of Your Life to Determine the Hierarchy of Priorities Between Task and Relationship

One of my mentors from early in my career shared a mental model that has been a fantastic guideline and framework through which I’ve conducted my life.  It involves determining the hierarchy between personal relationships and what you want to accomplish, and how to weigh the interaction between both for the most optimal outcome.  I’m [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Does God Reward Nations Economically Based Upon Their Religious Beliefs?

A Look at GDP Per Capita and Religion By Nation One of my grandmothers, whom I love very much, insisted that the United States has only financially prospered because we are a Christian nation.  She insists that our adherence to Judeo-Christian ethics is the reason we have a higher standard of living than everyone else. [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Unwarranted and Unfounded Assumptions Are the Enemy of the Rational Thinker (And Your Investment Portfolio)

Many of the Problems In Your Life Are Due to Your Assumptions One of the biggest secrets to success in life and business is to always check your assumptions.  Whether you realize it or not, you are full of assumptions.  You walk around every day, all day, making assumptions about people, places, political parties, institutions, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Jesus Christ vs. Captain Kirk: A Study of Mental Models (or “A Modern Example of Binary Beliefs and Cognitive Dissonance In Everyday Western Culture”)

The odds are good you won’t read this entire post.  The reason?  It has to do with confirmation bias.  If you think what I am going to say conflicts with your belief system – whether you are a scientist or a Christian – you won’t finish it to avoid cognitive dissonance even though you aren’t [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Illusion of Choice

I found myself in a situation today that illustrated the powerful concept of a specific mental model known as the illusion of choice.  This theme, of course, is familiar to anyone who has watched The Matrix trilogy, from the scene wherein the architect explains that the key to keeping humanity subdued is providing a system [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Three Core Psychological Needs of Men and the Role of Gender in the Brain

A few days ago, I was reading a psychology study that discussed the difference between the physical brains of men and women and the real-world implications of these differences. The best way to summate the data was the example of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  As he was shot, the typical response of [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Price of Happiness? Science Confirms It Is $75,000 Per Year

In a major peer-reviewed study from Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton from the Center for Health and Well-being at Princeton University, the great debate of psychology – can money buy happiness? – has finally been answered.  It turns out, it can up to a point.  This isn’t some quick news poll either, it is a [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Veblen Goods

In today’s installment of our mental models catalog, we are going to discuss Veblen goods, which are a special type of item that would appear, at first glance, to violate the law of supply and demand relationships to prices. Veblen goods are a type of commodity, product or service for which demand increases the higher [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Social Loafing

If you were starting a project or business, common sense would tell you that you could produce 5x as much output if there were five people working on your goals than if there were just one person.  If you are running a counseling program, ten counselors should be able to do 10x the work as [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Pew Research Center Completes Massive Study of Millennial Generation

The highly revered Pew Research Center has completed one of the most extensive studies it has ever undertaken.  It focuses on the so-called Millennial Generation, which consists of those who are currently 18-28 years old, and contrasts them with their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents on a wide range of economic, spiritual, social and cultural [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Goldovsky Errors

How can a dead body hang in a tree for nearly 14 hours and not be noticed by a town?  How can experts at one of the world’s top scientific institutions miss an easy-to-spot mistake for almost 30 years yet a 5th grader spots in 2008 after only a few seconds?  Why can’t you remember [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Dunning–Kruger Effect

Have you ever wondered why some people come to erroneous conclusions despite all the counter evidence, overestimate their abilities, and constantly make mistakes whereas other, more intelligent people often claim ignorance and throw things on the “too hard” pile? I mean, the reality is that 49.99% of people must be below average at any given [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Here Is One of My Secrets to Making Money (Or, How I Once Bribed Women to Code for Me with Diamonds, Rubies, and Chanel)

The Secret: Strike Deals Where Everyone Has Limited Downside and Harness the Super Power of Incentive Some of you have been writing to me privately and asking about the early days when we started out and were trying to build our companies.  I thought it would be useful to share some of the things we [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Hobson’s Choice, Morton’s Fork, and Burdian’s Ass

Hobson’s Choice: A free choice in which only one option is offered; i.e., “take it or leave it”. Morton’s Fork: Is a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives (in other words, a dilemma) or two lines of reasoning that lead to the same unpleasant conclusion.  It is analogous to the expression, “between the devil and [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Revolution of Satisfied Expectations

The Revolution of Satisfied Expectations: “Research conducted by Daniel Kahneman of Princeton University, and by others who have come to approximately the same conclusion, shows that most people judge their well-being not by measuring where they stand but rather based on whether they think their circumstances and income will improve in coming years.  For example, [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Congratulations – You Have 5 Hours More Per Week Than Your Parents (and 40 More Hours Than Your Great Grandparents)

John Robinson of the University of Maryland and Geoffrey Godbey of Penn State University have done research showing that “Americans now have more free time than at any point in the nation’s history.”  They calculate that since 1960, the average American has gained 5 hours of free time per week even after adjusting for women [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: The Drunkard’s Search

The Drunkard’s Search: The tendency for people to search in the easiest places, rather than the ones that are the most likely to yield results.  The name comes from the idea of a drunkard seeking his car keys under a street lamp because the light is better instead of where he most likely lost them. [...]

from Joshua Kennon

Mental Model: Satisficing

Satisficing: A psychological and economic phenomenon that results from consumers choosing a product that meets criteria at an adequate level, rather than expending a great deal more time to find a fully optimal solution. Put another way, people are not looking for optimal solutions in their life.  They are looking for a combination of “just [...]

from Joshua Kennon

The Psychology of Human Misjudgment by Charlie Munger

By Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett’s partner at Berkshire Hathaway) Speech at Harvard Law School (1995) Transcription of The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, comments [in brackets] by Whitney Tilson.  Note from Joshua Kennon: I’ve written a lot about Charlie Munger over the years, especially the influence he has had on my life and how we run [...]

from Joshua Kennon