Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Mental Models

Learning Quality Assessment

Most people have experiences but learn incorrect lessons from them. Success correlates with ability to extract the right lessons from life experiences.

Decision Rule

When evaluating people (hires, partners, investments), prioritize those who demonstrate ability to learn correct lessons over those with just experience

How It Works

Cognitive biases, ego, and random attribution cause people to draw wrong conclusions from experiences. Those who can see through these biases learn faster and make better decisions.

Failure Modes

Being overconfident in your own lesson extraction

Dismissing lessons that contradict your worldview

Not distinguishing between correlation and causation

Learning overly specific lessons from small sample sizes

Example Decision

Instead of hiring someone because they've 'failed before and learned from it,' evaluate whether their stated learnings actually make logical sense.