Cognitive Bias Isn’t Just a Logic Problem. It’s a Mood Problem. Quick question for you: when’s the last time you made a genuinely bad decision while you were calm, well-rested, and in a good mood? I’m not saying it never happens. But most of the spectacularly bad calls in my own life — the snap …
Continue reading “Cognitive Bias Isn’t Just a Logic Problem. It’s a Mood Problem.”
Your Kid Isn’t Giving You a Hard Time. Their Thinking Is Giving Them a Hard Time. I want to tell you about the worst parenting advice I ever accidentally followed, and the one idea that quietly undid it. Here’s the pattern most of us fall into without noticing: kid melts down, we scan the room …
Continue reading “Your Kid Isn’t Giving You a Hard Time. Their Thinking Is Giving Them a Hard Time.”
Two years ago, we built Inner Compass as a digital tool to help kids navigate the biggest question of growing up: who am I, actually? It was interactive, it was colorful, and for a lot of families, it worked. But two years is a long time, and the version of Inner Compass that’s been sitting on the site lately was starting to show its age.
Scott Adams (1957-2026): A thinker who taught us to fail forward Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert and author of influential self-improvement books, died on January 13, 2026, at age 68 from metastatic prostate cancer. In his final prepared statement, read by his ex-wife Shelly Miles, he wrote: “I had an amazing life. I gave it …
Continue reading “Scott Adams (1957-2026): A thinker who taught us to fail forward”
Stop Dimming Your Light: Learning to Trust Your Authentic Voice There’s a moment that happens dozens of times a day, maybe more. You feel a pull to say something, do something, or try something new. The impulse is clear and immediate. But before you can act on it, another voice steps in—questioning, calculating, editing. Within …
Continue reading “Stop Dimming Your Light: Learning to Trust Your Authentic Voice”
Instead of jumping straight to solutions, teach your children to ask “why” repeatedly until they reach the root cause.
The New Mind Traps: How AI is Creating Fresh Cognitive Biases For tens of thousands of years, human cognitive biases evolved to help us survive in a world of predators, scarcity, and small social groups. These mental shortcuts served us well when we needed to make quick decisions about whether that rustling in the bushes …
Continue reading “The New Mind Traps: How AI is Creating Fresh Cognitive Biases”
The Teen Guide to Cognitive Biases: Your Brain’s Secret Shortcuts Why Should You Care About This? Your brain is constantly playing tricks on you. Not in a mean way, but in a “trying to help but sometimes messing up” way. These tricks are called cognitive biases, and they affect literally everything: Why you think everyone …
The Power of Mental Models in Homeschooling As homeschooling parents, we’re constantly seeking the best ways to educate our children. While methods and curricula are important, there’s a more fundamental aspect of learning that often goes overlooked: mental models. In this article, we’ll explore why teaching our children mental models is crucial for their long-term …
Continue reading “The Power of Mental Models in Homeschooling”
Mastering the Mind: Overcoming Cognitive Biases and Negative Automatic Thoughts for Greater Self-Mastery In the pursuit of self-mastery, individuals often face numerous obstacles that hinder their progress and prevent them from reaching their full potential. Among these challenges, cognitive biases and harmful emotional algorithms stand out as particularly pervasive and difficult to recognize. At QMAK, …
