Personal Effectiveness
23 concepts
FM = force multiplier — a concept that improves your use of every other concept
- Growth Mindset FMThe task makes you feel stupid, and you notice whether that feeling reads as a verdict about your limits or as data about your approach.
- Identity FlexibilityYou catch yourself saying 'that's just not me' and notice it closing a door rather than describing a truth.
- Radical ResponsibilityYou realize no one is coming to fix this, and the question shifts from fault to what you do next.
- Locus of ControlSomething goes wrong and you notice whether your mind reaches outward for blame or inward for what to adjust.
- GritProgress has been invisible for months but the goal still matters more than today's discomfort.
- ResilienceThe disruption landed fully, and what matters now is how quickly you shift from reacting to reconstructing.
- Antifragility FMThe disruption that broke your competitor's plan is the reason yours just got better.
- Delayed GratificationThe immediate option is easy and pleasant, the alternative is effortful and unrewarding right now, and you feel the pull.
- Energy Management FMThree hours of sharp morning work produced everything of value; the nine hours of grinding borrowed against tomorrow.
- BoundariesThe automatic yes is forming before you've decided, and the tightening in your chest says the answer is no.
- Flow StateThe voice that monitors and judges has gone quiet, and work pulls you forward instead of you pushing through it.
- StoicismYou are losing sleep over a decision that was never yours to make, spending energy on the uncontrollable.
- Beginner's MindYou already know what your colleague will say, so you stop listening — missing what would change your mind.
- Cognitive FlexibilityYour approach has failed twice and your instinct is to try harder rather than try something different.
- ReframingYour heart pounds before the presentation and you cannot tell whether that is anxiety or excitement until you decide.
- Imposter SyndromeYou got the promotion, and your first thought is that the hiring committee must not have had better candidates.
- Hedonic TreadmillWhen the raise that thrilled you in March is simply your salary by September.
- Mimetic DesireYou suddenly want something intensely and, tracing the feeling backward, find a specific person's life at its origin.
- Creative IncubationYou stopped wrestling with the problem an hour ago, and the answer just arrived fully formed in the shower.
- CuriosityYou encounter something you cannot explain and feel the pull toward the gap rather than past it.
- GratitudeThe day feels insufficient until you pause and realize you have been filtering out everything that went well.
- Emotional EngagementNothing about the task changed, but you shifted from executing it to genuinely caring about the outcome.
- AttentionHolding your focus on what you chose while everything engineered to hijack it competes for the same bandwidth.