Sam Thomas Davies's Blog, page 4

Words Into Works #124 | The Zeigarnik Effect

Imagine you’re at a bustling restaurant, and your waiter effortlessly recites a long list of specials without missing a beat. Yet, moments after you’ve placed your order, they seem to have forgotten your face entirely. What’s going on here? This scenario illustrates the Zeigarnik Effect, a fascinating psychological phenomenon named after Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik. […]

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Words Into Works #123 | The Rubber Duck Debugging Method

The Rubber Duck Debugging Method is a simple yet powerful technique for problem-solving. Introduced by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas in their seminal work The Pragmatic Programmer, this method involves explaining your problem, step by step, to an inanimate object — traditionally, a rubber duck. While it may sound quirky, this practice is rooted in […]

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Words Into Works #122 | The Lindy Effect

Imagine you’re in a bustling city, observing the world around you. As you walk down a street lined with shops, restaurants, and people going about their day, you might notice that some places seem timeless. The bookstore on the corner has been there for decades, while the trendy café down the block is new and […]

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Words Into Works #121 | The Regret Minimization Framework

Imagine you’re 80 years old, looking back on your life. What decisions would you regret not making? What opportunities would you wish you had seized? This simple yet powerful mental exercise is at the heart of the Regret Minimization Framework, a decision-making tool famously used by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In his book The Everything […]

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Words Into Works #120 | The Spotlight Effect

Have you ever left your house with a small stain on your shirt and felt like everyone was staring at it? Or made a minor mistake during a presentation and believed the entire audience noticed? If so, you’ve experienced the Spotlight Effect. The Spotlight Effect is a cognitive bias that causes us to overestimate how […]

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Words Into Works #119 | Second-Order Thinking

Have you ever made a decision that seemed perfect at first, only to find it backfiring spectacularly later? We’ve all been there. This is where second-order thinking comes in. It’s a powerful mental model that encourages us to look beyond the immediate consequences of our actions and decisions. Instead of just asking, “What will happen […]

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Words Into Works #118 | The Blue Ocean Strategy

The Blue Ocean Strategy is about breaking out of the cutthroat competition by creating new market spaces, or “blue oceans,” ripe for growth. W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argue that companies should seek untapped markets where they can innovate without the threat of rivals instead of battling over a shrinking profit pool in crowded […]

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Words Into Works #117 | The Two Pizza Rule

The Two Pizza Rule, popularized by Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, is a simple yet powerful concept that enhances team productivity and efficiency. The rule suggests that no team should be so large that it cannot be fed two pizzas. This concept, explored in depth in Brad Stone’s The Everything Store, chronicles Amazon’s rise and the […]

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Words Into Works #116 | The Flywheel Effect

The Flywheel Effect is a compelling concept from Jim Collins’ influential bestselling business book Good to Great. The idea is a metaphor for the gradual build-up of momentum through persistent and consistent effort, leading to a tipping point where progress becomes self-sustaining and rapid. Collins uses the flywheel, a massive, heavy wheel, to symbolize the […]

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Words Into Works #115 | The Compound Effect

The Compound Effect is a transformative principle explained by Darren Hardy in his influential book of the same name. This concept emphasizes the immense power of small, consistent actions accumulating over time to produce significant results. However, it’s not just about making major leaps. Rather, it’s about consistency and persistence in the daily incremental steps. […]

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