When You Face a
Challenge, Think First.

Willpower runs out. Systems don't. The goal is to make good behavior automatic so you don't have to think about it every time.

• Do I have a regular time each day for homework / practice?
• Is my workspace set up so I can focus the moment I sit down?
• Do I have a Sunday routine to plan the week ahead?
• Have I set weekly, monthly, and yearly goals written somewhere I see them?

You cannot think clearly when you're flooded. Before anything else, remove yourself from the situation and reset your nervous system.

• Step away — go to the bathroom, outside, anywhere quiet.
• Take 3 slow, deep breaths. Exhale longer than you inhale.
• Ask: "What is the ONE next step I can take right now?"
• Recognize: is this a sprint or a long run? Pace accordingly.
• Schedule recovery — sleep, downtime, movement. These are not optional.

The quality of your thinking depends heavily on when and how you think. Shane Parrish calls this "clear thinking" — your environment and state hijack your brain more than you realize.

• Am I hungry, tired, angry, or rushed right now? If yes — wait.
• Is this decision reversible or irreversible? Reversible = decide fast. Irreversible = slow down.
• Have I slept on it at least one night?
• Am I being pressured by someone to decide right now? That's a red flag.

Your own brain has blind spots. Talking through a hypothetical with someone else — or even an AI — surfaces things you'd never see alone.

• Have I talked to Mom or Dad about this?
• Have I asked a friend what they think?
• Have I described the situation to Claude or ChatGPT and asked for a different perspective?
• Can I explain my plan out loud in 2 sentences? (If not, it's not clear enough yet.)

Instead of only asking "how do I succeed?" ask "what would guarantee I fail?" Then avoid those things. This is one of the most powerful mental moves you can make.

• What is the opposite of what I'm trying to achieve?
• What would make this project / decision / goal fail for certain?
• Am I currently doing any of those failure-causing things? Stop them first.
• What does the smartest critic of my plan say? Can I answer them?

Your first idea is rarely your best one. The moment you feel locked into a direction, that's exactly when you need to generate alternatives. Write them below.

• Did I actually write out all 6 before choosing?
• Did I consider the option I was most resistant to? (Often has a grain of gold.)

Warren Buffett said to write a list of 25 things you want to accomplish. Circle the top 5. Then cross out the bottom 20 — because those will steal your attention from your top goals.

• Do I know my top 2 priorities right now in school / life?
• Is what I'm spending time on today connected to those priorities?
• Have I identified what is distracting me and reduced it?
• Phone away and screen-free for the next focused block?

Every time you return to a project, you see it with fresh eyes. New ideas come. Trying to cram everything into one sitting is the hard way — and usually produces worse results.

• Have I broken this project into small pieces I can work on across multiple days?
• Can I do even 15–20 minutes on it today just to make progress?
• Did I start early enough to benefit from coming back to it?
• Am I planning on weekends for the week ahead?

Small habits, repeated daily, become enormous over time — in both directions. The most important financial and life principle there is.

• Have I identified my #1 negative compounding habit right now?
• Am I replacing it with something positive consistently?

Every subject, job, sport, and relationship eventually comes down to problem solving. The person who can think clearly through hard problems wins — in school and in life.

• Have I clearly defined what the actual problem is? (Not the symptom — the root cause.)
• Have I inverted — what would make this worse?
• Have I listed at least 5 possible solutions?
• Have I talked it through with someone?
• Have I chosen a direction and taken one concrete action step today?
• Will I come back to review what I learned?