“Thinking in Systems and Mental Models” by Marucs P. Dawson

"Just as every node on a network contributes to the final result, every action of a member of a particular organizational system contributes to the outcome. Without a broad view of interconnectedness, our problem-solving skills are limited and short-sighted, and our abilities to make long-term, beneficial decisions are hampered. If we only look to the immediate and the superficial, we forget that we rely on the smallest of parts. If we don’t acknowledge our interdependence's complexity, then we are doomed to replicate a system that will ultimately fail. Awareness of our interconnectedness is key to solving the biggest and most complex problems we face in contemporary society.

The real question is not whether we should use systems thinking, but which of the many ideas, approaches, and techniques currently associated with the field of systems thinking are most useful in specific settings. In 1943, Kenneth Craik, a Scottish psychologist, explained that the human mind expects events and describes fundamentals by building small-scale models of the real world. A mental model is a way we represent and understand an event, phenomenon, or system compactly. There is a mental model for everything that happens around you.

In this book, you will learn:

• The key concepts of systems thinking
• How to solve any problem with a step-by-step method
• Tips to improve your decision-making process
• The role of Chaos Theory in systems thinking
• What is wrong with your current way of thinking, and how you can improve it
• Strategies for developing habits, mental toughness, and resilience to combat mental clutter
• 40 mental models that you can use in your daily life
• Identify the mental models you already use everyday
• How to expand your set of mental models, create new ones and use them effectively
… And much more!

Systems thinking provides a framework for defining and solving problems. Start by paying attention to the questions you ask to practice thinking from a more systemic perspective. Extend your sense of what constitutes "the present." Try to think as "now" in terms of a more extended block of time. Ask yourself what happened just a year ago. What is going on now? What happened last year? We can grasp interconnections that we may not have seen before by extending our sense of the "now."

You are changing the way you think! It is not something easy and is an extremely challenging task. Just think about it. That is the way you have thought for all these years of your life.

Mental models influence your behavior and perception of things. You will be astonished as to how you start seeing the world in a different light the moment you expose yourself to a new mental model. Once you start using them in your life, your day-to-day life will start becoming so much easier. There is no end to the number of mental models that exist on this earth, and you will learn about so many of them in this book. Right now."

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