social connection

  • Network Effects

    Your network isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s infrastructure. Think about your phone. If you were the only person in the world with one, it would be worthless. Two phones and you can call each other, assuming you get along. Five phones and there are ten possible connections between them. Twenty phones and you’re looking at 190…

  • The False Consensus

    Nobody likes being wrong. That’s not a character flaw. It’s human, but some people take it further. They don’t just dislike being wrong, they can’t tolerate it. They’ll move heaven and earth to avoid being proven wrong, to reframe the evidence, to find anyone who agrees with them. Then they make a critical error, they…

  • The Groups You Choose

    Most people who struggle to make progress aren’t struggling because they lack intelligence, talent, or desire. They’re struggling because they’re trying to do it alone, surrounded by the wrong people, in groups that are quietly working against them. We’ve already looked at some of the internal hurdles that keep you stuck: the stress that quietly…

  • Social Proof Tendency

    You’re doing what everyone else is doing. Even when it’s wrong. Perhaps you look around before you act. Maybe you check what others think before you speak. You follow the crowd because the crowd must know something you don’t. That’s social proof tendency, and it’s running your life more than you realise. It’s not always…