20 Principles and Concepts for a Better Life

Use these 20 concepts at your own risk (for a better life):

1. Compounding Effect: Small, consistent actions accumulate over time to yield significant results. Applies to personal growth, investments, and habits.

2. Regret Minimization Framework: Jeff Bezos popularized this concept, encouraging decisions based on what will minimize regret in the long term, not just short-term gains.

3. Circle of Competence: Warren Buffett’s idea that sticking to areas where you have knowledge and skills yields better outcomes than venturing into unfamiliar territory.

4. Negative Visualization: A Stoic exercise that involves contemplating loss or negative outcomes to foster appreciation and prepare for adversity.

5. Anti-Fragility: Nassim Taleb's idea that some systems benefit from stress, shocks, or volatility. Cultivating resilience and systems that gain from disorder can be advantageous.

6. Hyperbolic Discounting: The tendency to prioritize immediate rewards over future ones. Awareness of this can help in making long-term beneficial decisions.

7. Law of Least Effort: Given two options, humans will naturally choose the one that requires the least work. Leveraging this can make habits easier to form.

8. Agency Theory: Highlights the relationship between principals (owners) and agents (managers) and the conflicts that arise when agents prioritize their interests. It emphasizes alignment of incentives.

9. Amor Fati: A Stoic and Nietzschean concept meaning "love of fate." It encourages acceptance and even love of all that happens, viewing challenges as opportunities.

10. Fogg Behavior Model: Behavior occurs when motivation, ability, and prompts come together. This model helps to design habits or behaviors by balancing these elements.

11. Action Bias: The tendency to favor action over inaction, especially under pressure, even if it's suboptimal. Useful for developing strategic patience.

12. Intuition vs. Analysis: Recognizes that intuition (based on experience) and rational analysis (deliberate reasoning) have their place, depending on the situation.

13. Value Proposition Canvas: Used to identify the alignment between what you offer (in career or relationships) and what is needed or desired, maximizing impact and alignment.

14. Opportunity Cost: The value of the next best alternative when making a choice. This concept can be applied to time, energy, relationships, and resources.

15. Reciprocity Principle: People feel obligated to return favors. Understanding reciprocity can aid in relationship-building and influence.

16. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: In physics, it suggests that the more precisely we measure one property, the less precise we can measure another. In life, it reminds us of the trade-offs and limits of certainty.

17. Pre-Mortem Analysis: Rather than only focusing on success, imagine a project's failure to identify potential obstacles and proactively address them.

18. Principle of Adaptation: People quickly adapt to new circumstances, good or bad. This helps manage expectations about happiness or satisfaction.

19. Second-Order Thinking: Considering the long-term and indirect consequences of decisions beyond immediate effects, useful for strategic planning.

20. Conservation of Energy Principle: In physics, energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transformed. In life, it’s a reminder to redirect efforts and focus rather than waste energy.

You can layer them into a mental framework for adaptability, anticipation of future outcomes, and a holistic approach to life’s complexities. And consult the framework whenever needed.

(conceptualized with o1 and 4o) - I'm not this smart.