[PacifyFish]

Sure thing.

I’ll typically make a few cards at first trying to test different aspects of the MM (general concept, example applications, given definition identify the MM, quiz any internal associations I have with it like if I learned it in a specific context, etc.) then I can delete ones that aren’t useful and/or add others later.

Let’s use the mental model of inversion as an example. I found this one in a Farnam Street blog post about Charlie Munger. Here are some cards I might create:

Front - what is the principle of inversion?

Back - when you want to try to maximize something, instead try minimizing its converse. Or vice-versa.

Front - what mental model might help if you’ve unsuccessfully tried implementing programs to increase innovation in your company?

Back - inversion. Rather than thinking of ways to increase innovation, can you instead think of things that are decreasing innovation and eliminate those?

Front - what’s another way to think about reducing time spent on work tasks?

Back - invert the problem. Try to increase time saved on nonessentials (e.g. laundry service, meal prep, outsourcing)

Front - what’s it called when you work backwards through a problem you’ve already tried to work through forwards?

Back - inversion

Front - what would Charlie Munger ask you if you came to him with a tough optimization problem?

Back - “have you tried inverting it?”

This is a bit contrived, but I hope this gives you a sense of how I think about creating cards for mental models.