Overarching Themes
- Degradation & Awareness
- Degradation (losing what has been gained)
- Counterproductivity (active)
- Depreciation & Complacency (passive)
- Maintaining & Optimizing
- Maintenance (not losing but not gaining)
- Fortification (doing things to prevent future degradation)
- Monotony (doing the monotonous things again and again because you have to)
- Discipline
- Optimization & Refinement (more efficient with existing resources and removing imperfections and constraints)
- Improvement & Sustainment
- Improvement (gaining capabilities)
- Investment: Losing with the intention of gaining
- Progression: gaining within the intention of gaining
- Gambit: Risks and Sacrifices (not knowing if you lose or gain)
Concept is the most basic unit - a mental representation of an idea, object, or category. Examples include "justice," "democracy," or "photosynthesis." Concepts are building blocks that help us categorize and understand the world.
Topic refers to a subject area or theme of discussion. It's broader than a concept and can encompass multiple related concepts. "Climate change" or "artificial intelligence" are topics that contain many interconnected concepts.
Definition provides the precise meaning and boundaries of a concept or term. It answers "what is this?" by specifying essential characteristics and distinguishing features. A definition of "mammal" would include key traits like being warm-blooded and having hair.
Theory is a systematic explanation of how and why phenomena occur, supported by evidence and able to make predictions. Theories like evolution or relativity connect multiple concepts into coherent explanations of natural processes.
Model is a simplified representation used to understand, explain, or predict something complex. Models can be physical (like a scale model of a building), mathematical (like economic equations), or conceptual (like the stages of grief). They're tools for grasping difficult ideas.
Framework provides an organized structure for thinking about or approaching a problem. It's like scaffolding that organizes concepts, theories, and methods into a coherent system. Business frameworks like SWOT analysis or research frameworks in academia give you a systematic way to analyze situations.
Creatures of Emotions (and feelings)
Working with emotions rather than against them
This subchapter is based on Dale Carnegie’s quote from How to Win Friends and Influence People:
“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bristling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity.”
Awareness
- Logical path vs emotional path
- Cognitive burn-in vs burnout
- Cognitive resources
- Stoicism
- Emotional tension
- Infinite patience, finite tolerance
- Learn to let go
- Desire vs yearning for the unattainable
- Convenient communication and emotional effort
- Sufficiency, mastery, sovereignty
- Psychological reactance, responsibility, choice, options
- Being desperate, assumptions, speculations, projections
- The opportunity cost/responsibility of choosing
- Self-fulfilling prophecy, placebo effect, delusion, entitlement
- Pavlovian conditioning, maintenance vs stagnation
- We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.
Concepts
Purpose
Self-Development
- Self-Sufficiency
- Capability
- Attention and Focus
- Consistency
- Resilience
- Dopamine (reward systems)
- Discomfort
- Patience
Self-Knowledge
- Awareness
- Identity/Your Word
- Authenticity
- Emotional Maturity
- Insecurity
- Vulnerability
- Acceptance (of self)
- Letting go/Non-attachment
- Pride/Humility
Relationships & Social
- Communication
- Trust
- Respect
- Boundaries and Space
- Giving Space
- Comparison
- Expectations
- Projections
- Accountability
- Sacrifice and Support
- Kindness
- Candor
Character & Values
- Principles
- Character
- Ethics
- Duty
- Honor
- Faith
- Leadership
- Authority
- Traditions
- Community
- Earned Realities
Growth Process
- Journey/The Process
- Consequences
- Improvement (incremental or mutual)
- Acceptance (of others)
- Wasting Time
- Gratefulness
Emotional Intelligence
- Love (emotion)
- Love (action-based)
- Emotions
- Joy vs. Happiness
Questions
- How do you distinguish "Burn In" from "Burn Out" practically? Is Burn In the process of building cognitive resilience before hitting the wall?
- Burn In refers to one step beyond flow state, being able to prevent burn out to the longest degree. It is almost like not having a crash after caffeine, being able to sustain quality energy as much as possible without pushing limits.
- What specific neurochemical optimizations are you referring to? Are you thinking dopamine regulation, stress hormones, or something broader?
- Neurochemical is mostly just understanding how the body works and how to use it to prevent burn out.
- Under your three main categories, some concepts seem to overlap. For instance, where does "psychological reactance" fit - is it always Maintenance, or could it be Degradation when it becomes counterproductive?
- Psychological reactance is almost a fear, which can be good and bad, so I’m not sure.
- How do "weighted attention" and "attentional bias" connect to your Burn In concept? Is managing attention the core mechanism?
- Weighted attention/attentional bias is more related to opportunity cost which is more Gambit, knowing you will lose somehting and not to hold on to what could have been.
- What would a daily practice of Cognitive Burn In look like versus traditional productivity approaches?
- Cognitive Burn In every day is mostly just self-awareness. Being aware of mistakes, lost time, focus on the stuff that went well, and end the day with a peace of mind. Really revolves around “having peace in a world of chaos”
- How do you measure progress through your Degradation → Maintenance → Improvement cycle?
- It isn’t a cycle but more like a oversimplified number line that negative is worse, 0 is maintaining, and positive is gaining
- Your "Creatures of Emotions" section is rich - how do the four definitions (emotions, feelings, intuition, instinct) map onto your burn in/out framework?
- Creatures of Emotions is just to break the idea that being emotional is bad or hurts you. I think people are emotional by nature and to use it to your advantage rather than fight it
- The trauma section mentions relative experience - does this suggest Burn In thresholds are also individual?
- Yes, burn in has a individual threshold and this is more to be aware of what your are capable of