Better Self Toolbox
A comprehensive collection of tools to help you think clearly, choose wisely, and grow meaningfully.
1-3-5 Rule
Plan each day with 1 big, 3 medium, and 5 small tasks.
- Productivity
12-Week Year
Shorten your planning cycle to 12-week periods.
- Productivity
5 Whys
Find the root causes by asking "why" multiple times.
- Mental Model
5-Second Rule
Use a 5-second countdown to overcome inaction.
- Productivity
Abstraction Laddering
Shift perspective by moving up or down in abstraction.
- Mental Model
Active Listening
Give undivided, nonjudgmental attention to the speaker.
- Relations
Activity Scheduling
Combat low energy by scheduling rewarding, purposeful activities.
- Well-Being
Ad Hominem
Undermining a message by discrediting its messenger.
- Fallacy
Anchoring
Letting initial information overly influence our judgment.
- Bias
Anecdotal Evidence
Substituting facts with individual experiences.
- Fallacy
Anti-Fragility
Grow because of challenges, not just in spite of them.
- Well-Being
Appeal to Authority
Trusting statements based on someone's status, not evidence.
- Fallacy
Appeal to Emotion
Relying on feelings to persuade rather than facts.
- Fallacy
Appeal to Hypocrisy
Dodging arguments by saying, "You do it too."
- Fallacy
Appeal to Nature
Treating what's natural as inherently superior.
- Fallacy
Argument to Moderation
Favoring a middle ground without examining the facts.
- Fallacy
Assumptions Map
List all assumptions and score them based on evidence and importance.
- Mental Model
Atomic Habits
Build big change through small, consistent habits.
- Productivity
Attention Restoration Theory
Natural settings help restore mental focus and clarity.
- Well-Being
Availability Heuristic
Judging likelihood based on what easily comes to mind.
- Bias
Backfire Effect
Strengthening our belief when confronted with contradictory evidence.
- Bias
Bandwagon
Believing something is true just because it's popular.
- Fallacy
Barnum Effect
Seeing personal specifics in vague and general statements.
- Bias
Bottleneck Analysis
Find and fix the most limiting part of a system.
- Productivity
Burden of Proof
Avoiding justification by demanding others disprove you.
- Fallacy
Bystander Effect
The more people are present, the less likely individuals are to act.
- Bias
Checklist
Make a reusable list to check off for repeatable tasks and processes.
- Productivity
Choice Architecture
Set up your surroundings to nudge desired actions.
- Productivity
Circle of Competence
Know and operate within your areas of true expertise.
- Life Design
Circular Reasoning
Supporting a claim with a restated version of itself.
- Fallacy
Cognitive Outsourcing
Free mental space by offloading tasks to tools.
- Productivity
Cognitive Restructuring
Track and challenge unhelpful thoughts to shift your mindset.
- Well-Being
Composition-Division Fallacy
Believing the whole and its parts must share the same qualities.
- Fallacy
Compound Effect
Achieve major results through consistent tiny improvements.
- Productivity
Confirmation Bias
Favoring evidence that confirms what we already think.
- Bias
Creative Constraints
Introduce limits to foster creative thinking.
- Mental Model
Curse of Knowledge
Presuming something is obvious to others because we understand it.
- Bias
Daily Reflection
Build self-understanding through daily check-ins.
- Self-Reflection
Deathbed Reflection
Prioritize actions by imagining what will matter at the end.
- Life Design
Decision Matrix
Rank alternatives based on defined criteria.
- Mental Model
Declinism
Romanticizing the past while casting a critical eye on the future.
- Bias
Deep Work
Immerse fully in demanding tasks without distraction.
- Productivity
Defensive Pessimism
Prepare for the worst-case scenario and work backwards.
- Well-Being
Diderot Effect
Acquiring something triggers a cascade of related desires.
- Bias
Door in the Face Effect
Refusing a large request makes are more likely to accept a smaller one.
- Bias
Double-Loop Learning
Fix both mistakes and the system that caused them.
- Self-Reflection
Dunning-Kruger Effect
Overestimating your ability when you lack competence.
- Bias
Echo Chambers
Reinforcing beliefs by avoiding opposing perspectives.
- Bias
Ego Depletion
Plan around limited mental stamina for better choices.
- Productivity
Eisenhower Matrix
Prioritize tasks by urgency and importance.
- Productivity
Emotional Bank Account
See relationships as accounts built on deposits and withdrawals.
- Relations
Emotional Granularity
Use precise labels to navigate your emotional landscape.
- Well-Being
Endowment Effect
Overvaluing something just because it's ours.
- Bias
Energy Audit
Review your life to spot energy boosters and leaks.
- Self-Reflection
Equivocation
Shifting a word's meaning mid-argument.
- Fallacy
Etymological Fallacy
Believing a word's original meaning defines its current use.
- Fallacy
Expectation Detox
Replace expectations with curiosity about what happens.
- Well-Being
False Cause
Assuming correlation implies causation.
- Fallacy
False Consensus
Overestimating the extent to which others share our beliefs.
- Bias
False Dichotomy
Reducing a spectrum of choices to an either-or decision.
- Fallacy
Feedback Loop
Adjust behavior based on the results it produces.
- Productivity
Feynman Technique
Explain a concept in simple terms to understand it more deeply.
- Mental Model
First Principles Reasoning
Deconstruct complexity into core principles and build from there.
- Mental Model
Framing Effect
Being unduly influenced by the way information is presented.
- Bias
Fundamental Attribution Error
Judging others on their character, but ourselves on situational factors.
- Bias
Gambler's Fallacy
Expecting patterns in purely random sequences.
- Bias
Genetic Fallacy
Judging a claim by its source instead of its content.
- Fallacy
Getting Things Done (GTD)
Capture, clarify, and execute tasks with a structured system.
- Productivity
Goldilocks Rule
Stay motivated by working at the right level of challenge.
- Productivity
Goodhart's Law
When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
- Mental Model
Graded Exposure
Build confidence by gradually confronting what you avoid.
- Well-Being
Growth Mindset
Believe you can improve through effort and learning.
- Well-Being
Halo Effect
Letting one positive trait shape your whole impression.
- Bias
Hanlon's Razor
Don't attribute to malice what's can be explained by incompetence.
- Relations
Hedonic Adaptation
We adapt to changes over time and return to a baseline level of happiness.
- Well-Being
Hero's Journey
Frame your life as a story of challenge and growth.
- Self-Reflection
Hindsight Bias
Believing past events were more predictable than they actually were.
- Bias
Horns Effect
Letting one negative trait shape your whole impression.
- Bias
Hyperbolic Discounting
Preferring worse, immediate rewards over better long-term ones.
- Bias
Iceberg Model
Analyze events by digging into underlying patterns, structures, and beliefs.
- Mental Model
Identity-Based Habits
Act in line with the person you aim to become.
- Productivity
Ikigai
Discover purpose at the intersection of passion, skills, and needs.
- Life Design
Illeism
Use third-person self-talk to think more objectively.
- Mental Model
Illusion of Control
Overestimating your influence over uncontrollable events.
- Bias
Imagery Rescripting
Use visualization to create more supportive inner narratives.
- Well-Being
Implementation Intentions
Create 'if-then' plans to pre-decide when and how you'll act.
- Mental Model
In-Group Bias
Unfairly favoring members of one's own group over others.
- Bias
Inverse Thinking
Ask how to fail to clarify how to succeed.
- Mental Model
Just World Hypothesis
Believing the world is inherently fair and people usually get what they deserve.
- Bias
Law of Diminishing Returns
Getting less benefit from each additional unit of effort.
- Mental Model
Legacy Letter
Share your values and wisdom in a letter to loved ones.
- Life Design
Leverage
Apply effort where it creates the greatest impact.
- Productivity
Life Design Interviews
Consult people on diverse life paths to inform your life directions.
- Life Design
Life Timeline
Track defining experiences of your life.
- Self-Reflection
Life Visioning
Imagine your ideal future to guide present decisions.
- Life Design
Loaded Question
Embedding a hidden claim within a question.
- Fallacy
Loss Aversion
Feeling losses more intensely than equivalent gains.
- Bias
Map and Territory Fallacy
Confusing representations of reality with reality itself.
- Bias
Meditation
Train attention and presence with focused practice.
- Well-Being
Mental Contrast
When visualizing success, also consider the obstacles you had to overcome.
- Mental Model
Mindfulness
Cultivate awareness of the here and now.
- Well-Being
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
Start with the simplest possible solution to a problem.
- Mental Model
Morning Pages
Start your day grounded with unstructured self-expression.
- Self-Reflection
Negative Visualization
Imagine losing what you value to deepen its appreciation.
- Well-Being
No True Scotsman
Shifting the definition to exclude counterexamples.
- Fallacy
Nonviolent Communication (NVC)
Speak with empathy by focusing on needs, not blame.
- Relations
North Star Metric
Choose one key value to guide your life decisions.
- Life Design
Occam's Razor
For the same evidence, favor simpler explanations over complex ones.
- Mental Model
Odyssey Planning
Explore radically different future plans to reveal your true desires.
- Life Design
Omission Bias
Judging harmful actions as worse than equally harmful inactions.
- Bias
OODA Loop
Making decisions in dynamic environments: observe, orient, decide, act.
- Mental Model
Opportunity Cost
The value of what you give up when you choose one option over another.
- Mental Model
Paradox of Choice
Too many choices leads to decision paralysis.
- Bias
Pareto Principle
80% of outcomes come from 20% of inputs.
- Productivity
Parkinson's Law
Tasks stretch to fit the time you give them.
- Productivity
Periodic Review
Regularly reflect on your goals and actions.
- Self-Reflection
Personal Incredulity
Assuming something can't be true just because you don't get it.
- Fallacy
Personal KPIs
Track what matters with your own success metrics.
- Life Design
Personal Mission Statement
Define your life purpose in a clear statement.
- Life Design
Personal Values Clarification
Identify and rank your core values to guide future decisions.
- Life Design
Planning Fallacy
Underestimating the time, risk, and effort required to complete a task.
- Bias
Pomodoro Technique
Work in short sprints with regular breaks.
- Productivity
Pre-Mortem
Visualize the worst-case to identify causes.
- Mental Model
Premack's Principle
Pair behaviors you like with those you want to reinforce.
- Productivity
Principle of Least Effort
Gravitating toward minimal-effort solutions.
- Bias
Probabilistic Thinking
Weigh outcomes based on how likely they are.
- Mental Model
Prompted Journaling
Use structured questions or prompts in regular self-reflection.
- Self-Reflection
Proximate and Root Causes
Identify root causes, not just immediate effects.
- Mental Model
Pygmalion Effect
People tend to behave according to the expectations of others.
- Relations
Radical Candor
Give honest feedback with genuine care.
- Relations
Reactance
Reacting against suggestions when we feel our freedom of choice is threatened.
- Bias
Reciprocity
Feeling compelled to return favors or kindness.
- Bias
Red Herring
Distracting from the main issue with an unrelated points.
- Fallacy
Reframing
Shift perspective about a problem to make it more manageable.
- Well-Being
Regret Minimization Framework
Choose the path you'll least regret in the future.
- Mental Model
Relaxation
Lower anxiety through intentional physical relaxation.
- Well-Being
Role Mapping
Identify key roles in your life and how they align.
- Life Design
SCAMPER Technique
Apply seven thinking strategies to generate and improve ideas.
- Mental Model
Scarcity
Assigning more value to what's harder to get.
- Bias
Second-Order Thinking
Consider action implications beyond the immediate consequences.
- Mental Model
Self-Determination Theory
People thrive when they feel capable, connected, and in control.
- Well-Being
Self-Serving Bias
Claiming credit for wins but deflecting blame for losses.
- Bias
Serendipity Maximizing
Create conditions where happy accidents are more likely to happen.
- Life Design
Serenity Prayer Mindset
Accept what you can't control, act on what you can.
- Well-Being
Six Thinking Hats
Approach decisions with six distinct mental modes.
- Mental Model
Slippery Slope
Assuming that one event must lead to a cascade of others without evidence.
- Fallacy
SMART Goals
Create better goals by following SMART criteria.
- Productivity
Social Proof
Copying others' behavior, especially in uncertain situations.
- Bias
Socratic Questioning
Use probing questions to explore ideas critically.
- Mental Model
Spaced Repetition
Retain knowledge longer by reviewing content over spaced intervals.
- Productivity
Special Pleading
Applying different standards to similar cases without a good reason.
- Fallacy
Spotlight Effect
Overestimating how much others focus on you.
- Bias
Starbursting
Bainstorm questions before you start to answer them.
- Mental Model
Straw Man
Attacking a simplified or exaggerated version of someone's view.
- Fallacy
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Clinging to failing plans due to previous effort.
- Bias
Survivorship Bias
Focusing on success stories while ignoring the failure ones.
- Bias
Texas Sharpshooter
Fitting the evidence to the claim, not the other way around.
- Fallacy
The Fallacy Fallacy
Dismissing a claim solely because it was argued badly.
- Fallacy
The Scout Mindset
Think like a scout - observe, explore, and revise.
- Mental Model
Time Tracking
Monitor your day to reveal how you truly spend time.
- Productivity
Wheel of Life
Reflect on how different parts of your life align.
- Life Design
Window of Tolerance
Discover your emotional limits and reset methods.
- Well-Being
WOOP Goals
Clarify goals by defining outcome, obstacles, options, and plan.
- Productivity
Worry Time
Set aside time to worry, so it doesn't take over your day.
- Well-Being
Zeigarnik Effect
The brain holds on to what's unresolved.
- Productivity
- Well-Being
Zero-Based Thinking
Reevaluate choices as if starting from scratch.
- Mental Model