Every mental model you rely on was built during a period when it worked — and that's exactly why it becomes dangerous. The pragmatist philosopher William James argued that ideas are not true or false in the abstract; they are true insofar as they help us navigate experience. But 'helping you navigate' and 'accurately describing reality' are two very different things, and the gap between them widens silently over time. A model that got you through your twenties, or through your last role, or through a particular kind of problem, accumulates credibility with every success — right up until the moment the world changes and the model doesn't. The practical move is simple but uncomfortable: occasionally treat your most trusted frameworks not as tools you pick up, but as patients you examine. Ask what conditions they were built for, and whether those conditions still hold.

Pick one framework you've used repeatedly this week — what situation originally taught you to rely on it, and is that situation actually similar to the one you're in now?

Drawing from Pragmatism — William James