[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.]

Answering all of life’s most important questions is a tall order, but if you’ve read this web page long, you know the value I put on the Model, my model for human motivations and emotions. The Model forms the foundation of what I consider the best way to view and live life.

A model that answers all of life’s most important questions: The Model



If you haven’t read my series on the Model, I wrote about it at length. I put a table of contents on the Model at the bottom of this page. Yes it’s a lot to read, but it will tell you more about yourself and others than anything. It will simplify your life while helping you achieve more than anything else.

Here’s the Model, illustrated. Deceptively simple, it gives structure to a lot about people and how they interact with their environments. The posts below give it more depth and explain its consequences.

When I use this belief

I use the Model all the time, every day. I use it to understand my environment and myself and what I can do about both.

What this belief replaces

This belief replaces thinking your emotional system is irrational and random with thinking it’s consistent, reliable, and predictable. It replaces misunderstanding yourself and others with understanding them. It replaces not knowing how to learn about yourself with direction and focus to do so.

Where this belief leads

This belief leads to greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence, which lead to a better life, better relationships,… better nearly everything.

Table of contents of posts on the Model

I copied the following table of contents from this page.

Introduction and overview

Examples of models

Models: passive and active

Models: exercises

Building the Model from first principles: environment, beliefs, perception, emotions, behavior, and reward

Now that we’ve developed the Model, let’s understand it.

Discussion and examples of the Model

People familiar with other methods of improving your life may see similarities between my Model and the model underlying cognitive behavioral therapy. I’ll develop the comparison more later, but for now I’ll compare the two models briefly.

The Model and cognitive behavioral therapy

Now that the Model has some context too, let’s understand it in more depth.

The Model in more depth

Everything so far has been about the Model itself. Now let’s look at its implications for us in our lives.

What the Model tells us about our lives

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