Book Review: “Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results” by Shane Parrish 5/5
“Anyone looks like a genius when they’re in a good position, and even the smartest person looks like an idiot when they’re in a bad one.” - Shane Parrish
Farnam Street's mission is to provide “timeless lessons and insights that help you think better, learn faster, and make smart decisions”. I’m a huge fan and supporter of them, as they have shaped my thinking like no other source of knowledge.
Their previous three books (1, 2, 3) were an attempt to categorise and describe mental models. This one is different as it focuses on clear thinking and decision making approached holistically.
Going through the chapters we start with ourselves and get to know what influences our perception, then we learn how to increase our awareness of our strengths and weaknesses. Next, we explore the process of decision making itself. The last part gets philosophical and tries to define what really matters to us. That’s the gist of it.
It is written using clear language (how couldn’t it be if it is about clear thinking?) and provides stories to keep us interested. It is a well deserved 5 out of 5, but remember, I am a huge fan of Farnam Street’s work.
To keep this review helpful, without providing too many spoilers, here is my favourite tool from the book:
Assign your own personal board of advisors inside your head. Choose a few people you value whose approach to problems you are familiar with and trust. You can refer to them as “The Jedi Council”, or any other name, as they work only in your head.
These people can be living, dead or even fictional, it doesn't matter as long as you can consider their perspective. Then, each time you need to make a decision ask your personal board of advisors: what do you think? What would you do? This exercise gives you different perspectives, and sometimes that’s all you need.
The book delivers its promise of sharing the recipe for turning ordinary moments into extraordinary results. Of course, it does not guarantee our success as the implementation is up to us. Good luck!