This isn’t really a mental model, more of a mindset. But I include it as a mental model because you can use it as an instant or deferred model against the world. If you’ve read a book, you’ve accessed knowledge you previously did not, which might help you solve a problem. If you run up against a problem you don’t know an answer to, a good way to find the solution is to read a book. My wife once told me a quote she heard:
” Just because you say something smart, doesn’t mean I think you’re smarter than me, it just means I think you’ve read a book I haven’t read yet.
I think that’s pretty darn cool. As I usually spend a week on using a mental model, I’m going to declare my reading goals for this year instead. I want to read three books a month until the end of the year. That’s 24 books for the rest of the year. What’s your reading goal?