Ideas
Mental models I’ve earned by operating, not collected by reading. Each one is backed by the essays that built it.
Time as the unpurchasable moat
The one advantage you can't buy, only spend into being — time compounding on a clock no one controls.
- 2026-04-17 — Stop Preparing, Start Producing
- 2026-06-11 — The Only Moat You Can't Buy
- 2026-06-12 — The Wall Made of Time
Sits next to: Conviction is built, not borrowed, The create/consume ratio, Judge before you buy, Decision-cost at the margin, Time compression
Time compression
Drop effective time below a human threshold and behaviour changes phase; the gap between possibility and action collapses.
Sits next to: Decision-cost at the margin, Time as the unpurchasable moat
Decision-cost at the margin
People act at the margin — cutting the friction of a choice moves behaviour more than cutting its price.
Sits next to: Time as the unpurchasable moat, Time compression, Attachment vs. destination, Endorsement is presence, The binding constraint moves
Attachment vs. destination
A product's real competitor isn't its category — it's whether it's the reason someone walks into a shop or something that rides along with a decision already made.
Sits next to: Decision-cost at the margin, Endorsement is presence, The binding constraint moves
The binding constraint moves
Solve the bottleneck limiting a decision and the constraint doesn't disappear — it relocates to whatever variable was slack a moment ago.
Sits next to: Attachment vs. destination, Decision-cost at the margin, Endorsement is presence
Endorsement is presence
An introduction is a name you're allowed to use. An endorsement is a person spending their own standing by being physically present when the decision gets made.
Sits next to: Attachment vs. destination, Decision-cost at the margin, The binding constraint moves
The create/consume ratio
Consuming feels like preparing. It isn't. If the hour leaves nothing behind, you consumed it. Make two things for every one you take in.
Sits next to: Conviction is built, not borrowed, Judge before you buy, Time as the unpurchasable moat
Judge before you buy
You can't evaluate work you've never done. Build it yourself first, badly. Then you know what you're paying for.
Sits next to: Conviction is built, not borrowed, The create/consume ratio, Time as the unpurchasable moat
Conviction is built, not borrowed
A borrowed opinion leaves when the mood leaves. Do the work yourself and you can hold the position while everyone else sells.
Sits next to: The create/consume ratio, Judge before you buy, Time as the unpurchasable moat