Mental models are rules, models, frameworks, or worldviews that help people understand the world better by creating a simple representation of how something works. Mental models are working even if we aren’t aware of them. They are how we simplify complexity, why we consider some things more relevant than others, and how we reason.
To provide a quick example, think of the supply and demand model you probably learned in high school. The supply and demand diagram is simply a mental model that helps you understand how an abstract concept like the economy works.
How to use Mental Models
There is no single best mental model or defined way to use them. However, by being aware of them – you are better able to think through problems.
Mental models provide specific frameworks, ways of thinking, or formulas to overcome laborious challenges or novel situations.
There are thousands of mental models and it is difficult to compile them all together.
The best mental models book I have read is Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg and Lauren McCann. The book provides hundreds of mental models that are divided by section so you can get the most out of them in work, relationships, and pursuing your goals.
Mental Models to Make Work Easier
Since mental models make abstract concepts more concrete and are designed to limit the complexity, one of the areas mental models can help are with work.
Below are 13 of my favorite mental models that can boost your performance, your team’s performance, and even help your company solve more ambitious challenges.
1. Hofstadter’s Law
Hofstadter’s law was coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his book Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid to describe the widely experienced difficulty of accurately estimating the time it will take to complete tasks of substantial complexity. It states
“Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”
Doug Hofstadter
While funny, this also translates to almost any project will run over schedule, over-budget, and most likely will annoy the key stakeholders. By knowing about this mental model – you can more accurately forecast and set expectations with the relevant parties. Especially if the task is complex, that it will take longer than expected to complete the work.
2. Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s law states that
“Work expands to fill the time available for the completion.”
Cyril Parkinson
If you have two months to complete a project, you will take those two months. If the same project was reduced to one month – you’d get the project done in one month. The main idea behind this mental model is you can use it to beat procrastination. By creating an artificial deadline, you can initiate Parkinson’s Law and get your work done ahead of time. Set your own deadline ahead of the real one to get work done before the allotted time.
If you are looking for other guides that can beat procrastination, check-out this guide here!
3. Eisenhower Decision Matrix
Former U.S President Dwight Eisenhower famously joked, “What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” Inspired by this quote, Stephen Covey, the author of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, created the below 2 by 2 matrix to help people prioritize their activities.
You can apply this matrix to your business, work tasks, and even personal life. See how you can foster working on more important work and spend less time dealing with the not urgent and not important.
4. Sayre’s Law
Named after political scientist Wallace Sayre, it states
“In any dispute, the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issue at stake.”
Wallace Sayre
The focus of the mental model is that the nature of group dynamics can lead groups to focus on the wrong things. For instance, people would rather discuss the known entities and topics that get discussed week after week since it is familiar than the new, innovative idea. People have repeat conversations about the known because they are concerned about looking like novices in-front of their colleagues. Even if the idea could make the company a market leader – the group will not discuss it.
You can beat the negative side of group dynamics by timeboxing. Timeboxing is setting strict time limits for each agenda item to ensure that every issue is discussed – and also can ensure you spend the most time debating the right issues.
5. BATNA
Stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.
For instance, if you are negotiating rent with your current landlord – you go into your negotiation with your facts and figures of what you think the price should be and they can still reject it.
Your BATNA is your next best alternative. In the rent instance, can you move home with your parents, is there another apartment with a cheaper lease closer to work, or are you in talks of putting a down-payment for a house? Your BATNA is what you can do if plan A does not work out.
The best part, you aren’t at the mercy of the other party if the negotiation isn’t going your way. With a little pre-work to develop a solid BATNA, you can navigate away and into a better situation – or at least one where the other party is forced to match if they can.
6. Deep work
To foster creative thinking, author Cal Newport coined the term “deep work.”
“Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task” quote.”
Cal Newport
To focus and think creatively, Newport advocates for dedicating long, uninterrupted periods to making progress on your most important problem. Making time also requires you to not multitask on anything else – the focus is solely on your issue at hand.
To help figure out what your deep work should focus on, check out this guide here!
7. Pareto principle
The Pareto principle states
“In many situations, 80 percent of the results come from approximately 20 percent of the effort.”
Vilfredo Pareto
The origins of the Pareto principle are from economist Vilfredo Pareto from the 1800s in his book, Manuel d’ economie politique. Where he observed that 80 percent of the peas harvest in his garden came from only 20 percent of the pods, 80 percent of the land in Italy at the time was owned by 20 percent of the people, and so on.
See in your work where the Pareto Principle is true. Who in your company is producing 80 percent of the results? What activities are you doing that result in 80 percent of the gains? Focus on doing more of the activities that promote unproportionally advantage to your end goal.
8. Law of Diminishing Returns
Once you determine which 80/20 results you want to focus on – watch for the law of diminishing returns, which states:
“Each additional hour of work (or other units of measure) unfortunately produces less and less impactful results.”
Law of Diminishing Returns
For instance, you spend 40 hours a week working at 100% capacity. At the 41st hour, you start to feel yourself drag and work at 90% capacity, and so on with each additional hour. When you begin working past your limit – the work you produce isn’t as impactful or useful as it was when you could operate at your max capacity.
Ideally, you could stop your work and take a break to focus on something else for a while so you can recharge your work batteries.
9. Loss Aversion
People tend to see the negative. That is also why it can be hard to naturally be happy and be grateful most of the time. Our brain is hardwired through evolution to be negative. We expect danger around every corner because if we didn’t always suspect a tiger would be in a bush, we wouldn’t have survived in the ancient world.
That is why Loss aversion exists.
“People are more inclined to avoid losses than they are to want to make similar gains.”
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, Advances in Prospect Theory
Studies in loss aversion show that one who loses $100 will lose more satisfaction than the same person will gain satisfaction from a $100 windfall.
To help beat lose aversion, focus on your goal overall. Getting an overall view helps you focus away from the specific individual loss or gain, to instead see the bigger picture of what your task is helping you achieve.
10. Sunk-Cost Fallacy
Have you ever invested more money into a bad investment? If so, you know the painful effects of the sunk-cost fallacy.
“Individuals commit the sunk cost fallacy when they continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, or effort).”
Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Microeconomics
The sunk-cost fallacy can be so prevalent in many decisions outside of money. Deciding to stay in a relationship that isn’t working, staying in a job you dislike and living in the same lifestyle that doesn’t suit you.
Need help conquering the sunk-cost fallacy? We have a guide to help you!
11. Design Pattern
When you are following industry best practices based on what’s worked in the past, you are following the design pattern. Coined by architect Christopher Alexander, a design pattern is
A reusable solution to a design problem.
If you’ve noticed all doorknobs are at the same height, and staircases being a certain width, this is the result of design patterns being opted into building codes. To keep decisions making easier and make a uniform standard, the design pattern mental model helped establish living standards for buildings. All industries have their set of design patterns as well.
12. Anti-Pattern
The opposite of the well-tested design pattern is the anti-pattern.
A seemingly intuitive but actually ineffective solution to a common problem that often already has a known, better solution.
Examples of anti-patterns are using a book for a doorstop or even letting loss aversion guide your decision-making.
To use these two mental models, where are your design patterns and where are you using anti-pattern designs that could be changed to a better solution?
13. Reframe the Problem
When faced with the need to get to a solution to a tough problem quickly, you can try to reframe the problem.
Reframing the problem is a process of looking at the same problem from a new perspective.
For example, Walt Disney World has long lines for their rides which frustrates guests. Each ride only has so many seats, so Disney can’t add more seating. However, Disney reframed the problem from, “How do we move people through the line faster?” to “How do we make people happier while they wait in line?”
As a result of the reframe, Disney created fast pass systems, posted wait times outside of the ride to reduce the mystery, and even put fun games/scenery in line to help guests feel entertained so the line didn’t feel so long.
What is the biggest problem you are currently facing? How can you reframe the problem to take a different perspective?
Key Take-Aways
- Mental models are rules, models, frameworks, or world views that help people understand the world better by creating a simple representation of how something works.
- By learning and using mental models, we are better able to overcome sub-optimal thinking and pursue strategies that will generate the better results we are looking for.
Action Item
Pick the mental model that has the most benefit to you at this time. Make it a goal to use the mental model at least once in your work this week. See how it changed the group dynamic or helped you get a better result!
