Making & learning · Collection guide · 5 stops
Make better decisions
Take one real decision through this path. Start by making it manageable, then examine incentives, identity and the usefulness of writing things down. Finish with a failure case that tests whether your process would notice uncomfortable evidence. The aim is a clearer decision with visible assumptions, not certainty.
Browse this collection in reading order →Suggested routes through material saved to explore. I haven’t read or watched everything here yet. The order and prompts are editorial suggestions based on available source text, excerpts, descriptions and synopses; they are not personal ratings or claims of completed viewing.
Make the decision smaller and clearer
The 37signals guide offers questions about reversibility, timing and responsibility. Begin here to define the decision you actually face, rather than carrying several unresolved questions as one enormous problem.
Pause & try
State the decision, who owns it, when it matters and what would be difficult to reverse. Identify the smallest useful commitment.
Look for pressures on the reasoning
Videos · Est. 20 min
The Psychology of Human Misjudgment - Charlie Munger →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Munger’s talk considers recurring patterns of misjudgment. Use it after defining the decision to inspect the incentives and social pressures surrounding your preferred answer.
Pause & try
Who gains if you choose each option, including you? Name one incentive or persuasive cue that might be making an argument feel stronger than its evidence.
Separate the option from your identity
Graham adds a different obstacle: beliefs can become hard to revise when they express who you are. This is especially useful when a decision feels like a test of loyalty or character.
Pause & try
Complete: ‘If I chose the other option, I worry it would mean I am…’. Then state the practical trade-off without that identity claim.
Write the reasoning before the result
Altman’s discussion of note-taking provides a concrete way to slow down and externalise thought. Use writing here to preserve what you actually believe before the outcome reshapes your memory.
Pause & try
Write your preferred option, the strongest alternative, the biggest unknown and what evidence would make you switch. Put a date on the note.
Stress-test the story of success
Documentaries · Est. 1 hr 30 min
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room offers a case of distorted incentives and a powerful success narrative. Watch for information that was inconvenient to the prevailing story, then return to your own decision.
Pause & try
What bad news would you be least willing to hear about your preferred option? Find one independent way to check for it.
After the five stops
Take it into your own life.
Make the appropriate next commitment and set a review date. When you revisit the note, distinguish a poor process from an unlucky outcome. Update the decision rule you would use next time rather than rewriting the original reasoning to fit what happened.
Continue exploring
Items 1–5 are the guided route above. The remaining items are listed alphabetically below; choose what interests you next. These numbers match the collection shelf.
- 50 Ideas That Changed My Life → Find on the shelf: 50 Ideas That Changed My Life →
- Bessemer Venture Partners (collection) → Find on the shelf: Bessemer Venture Partners (collection) →
- CEOs Don’t Steer - Venkat → Find on the shelf: CEOs Don’t Steer - Venkat →
- Competition is for losers → Find on the shelf: Competition is for losers →
- Coyote: The Mike Plant Story → Find on the shelf: Coyote: The Mike Plant Story →
- Deep Water → Find on the shelf: Deep Water →
- Everything is a Remix → Find on the shelf: Everything is a Remix →
- Free Solo → Find on the shelf: Free Solo →
- Grizzly Man → Find on the shelf: Grizzly Man →
- Honesty and the Human Body → Find on the shelf: Honesty and the Human Body →
- How to Get Lucky: Focus On The Fat Tails → Find on the shelf: How to Get Lucky: Focus On The Fat Tails →
- Icarus → Find on the shelf: Icarus →
- Inside Job → Find on the shelf: Inside Job →
- John McAfee Wild Interview → Find on the shelf: John McAfee Wild Interview →
- Life lessons from an ad man | Rory Sutherland → Find on the shelf: Life lessons from an ad man | Rory Sutherland →
- Man on Wire → Find on the shelf: Man on Wire →
- Morgan Housel - Betting On Things That Never Change → Find on the shelf: Morgan Housel - Betting On Things That Never Change →
- Mr. Jaynes’ Wild Ride → Find on the shelf: Mr. Jaynes’ Wild Ride →
- Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t → Find on the shelf: Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don’t →
- Peter Thiel - Original Thinking → Find on the shelf: Peter Thiel - Original Thinking →
- Playing to win - David Sirlin → Find on the shelf: Playing to win - David Sirlin →
- Ray Dalio Principles Original Memo → Find on the shelf: Ray Dalio Principles Original Memo →
- Senna → Find on the shelf: Senna →
- Solitude and Leadership - William Deresiewicz → Find on the shelf: Solitude and Leadership - William Deresiewicz →
- Sour Grapes → Find on the shelf: Sour Grapes →
- Thank You for Smoking → Find on the shelf: Thank You for Smoking →
- The Arc Product-Market Fit Framework → Find on the shelf: The Arc Product-Market Fit Framework →
- The Best Venture Firm You’ve Never Heard Of → Find on the shelf: The Best Venture Firm You’ve Never Heard Of →
- The Collected Works of Ray Peat → Find on the shelf: The Collected Works of Ray Peat →
- The Fog Of War → Find on the shelf: The Fog Of War →
- The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology → Find on the shelf: The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology →
- The privilege of failure → Find on the shelf: The privilege of failure →
- Why am I always late → Find on the shelf: Why am I always late →