Invest Like The Best
Episode 17 Mastering Mental Models
Invest Like The Best

Episode 17: Mastering Mental Models

Mastering Mental Models

Shane Parrish created Farnam Street, a website that helps you master the best of what others have already figured out. We cover his thoughts on the future of work, how to cultivate a growth mindset, and the screening process he uses for the books and content that he consumes.

[00:01:31] – (First question) Looking at some of the things that have helped Shane with his success, starting with things that look easy to him but require hard work.

[00:02:56] – Exploring the pace at which Shane reads books and why reads many of them twice

[00:04:40] – Looking at books that Shane has read twice and got a lot more out of it the second-time through

[00:05:59] – How Shane’s reading has shaped the Farnam Street newsletter and how that led to a huge audience.

[00:08:30] – The Books for Schools program and why having a real person behind made all the difference

[00:09:35] – Shane is asked about the future of work

[00:11:55] – We don’t have enough uninterrupted time to work through a problem

[00:14:07] – Will the future of work be focused around smaller teams and outsourcing more tasks

[00:15:17] – What are valuable aspects of computer science and programming that anyone can use to improve their work environment

[00:18:14] – Figuring out what processes can be automated vs what should be done creatively

[00:20:50] – How automation may create a blindness

[00:22:20] – The two mindsets at war, the growth mindset vs the fixed mindset

[00:25:07] – How does Shane personally keep the growth mindset

[00:27:48] – The way Shane has his day set up to improve his life

[00:30:33] – How the people around will help you maintain the growth mindset in your life

[00:34:34] – Looking at a recent Farnam post on how biology enables and culture forbids

[00:39:40] – Mapping out your personal and competitive advantage

[00:42:32] – Why every day is very memorable for Shane

[00:43:52] – What is the kindest thing people do for Shane

[00:45:05] – Figuring out what books or genre of books you should avoid

[00:47:57] – Shane explains why forcing people to read something would not be beneficial to them

[00:50:18] – Why checking in with a variety of resource is so important

Mastering Mental Models

Introduction

Patrick
My guest this week is Shane Parrish. Many out there will be familiar with Shane and if you are not, you should be. More than 100,000 people, myself included, spend their Sunday morning reading what Shane and his team have written that week, to learn more about themselves and the world. I tell Shane at the start of our conversation that we need to avoid just talking about books, and then we proceed to talk about books right away. I guess it was inevitable. Luckily, we cover a lot of other ground as well. Fans of Shane's multi-faceted take on the world will enjoy our discussion of business, mental models, and unavoidably reading.You can find show notes at Investfieldguide.com/Shane. Now, please enjoy my conversation with Farnam Street's Shane Parrish.

Shane's Path

Patrick
All right, well Shane, thank you so much for taking the time to do this with me today. We'll talk about a lot of different interesting areas, and we'll try to actually steer clear of books. I think that you and me could tend to go down the book rabbit hole, so maybe we'll try to leave that for the very end. Instead, start by talking about some of the things that you think have led to your success, just in general. But also maybe particular elements that people could emulate or replicate in their own lives. One fun way of thinking about this is to ask what things feel pretty easy or natural to you, but might look like very hard work to those on the outside looking in?

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