strategic-thinking

<quick_start> Tell me:

1. What decision, problem, or situation you're facing
2. What you're trying to achieve

I'll recommend the best framework and apply it, or you can choose directly from the menu below. </quick_start>

Options:

1. A decision - Choosing between options
2. A problem - Understanding root causes
3. A situation - Strategic assessment
4. Prioritization - What to focus on
5. A specific framework - Apply directly

Or describe your situation and I'll recommend the best approach.

<framework_index> Available Frameworks

Framework	Best For	Key Question
Pareto (80/20)	Prioritization	What 20% drives 80% of results?
First Principles	Innovation, stuck thinking	What's actually true vs assumed?
Inversion	Risk management	What would guarantee failure?
5 Whys	Root cause analysis	Why does this really happen?
10/10/10	Time-horizon decisions	How will I feel in 10 min/months/years?
Eisenhower Matrix	Task prioritization	Urgent vs important?
SWOT	Strategic assessment	Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats?
Second-Order Thinking	Consequence analysis	And then what happens?
Opportunity Cost	Trade-off analysis	What am I giving up?
Occam's Razor	Simplification	What's the simplest explanation?
One Thing	Focus	What single action makes everything else easier?
Via Negativa	Improvement through removal	What should I stop doing?
</framework_index>

If you're trying to...	Use
Decide between options with different time impacts	10/10/10
Find the root cause of a recurring problem	5 Whys
Prioritize a long list of tasks	Eisenhower Matrix
Challenge assumptions or find new solutions	First Principles
Identify what could go wrong	Inversion
Find the simplest explanation	Occam's Razor
Identify the single most important action	One Thing
Understand what you're sacrificing	Opportunity Cost
Focus on what matters most	Pareto
Think through consequences	Second-Order Thinking
Assess strategic position	SWOT
Improve by removing rather than adding	Via Negativa

<framework_summaries> Pareto (80/20 Rule)

Identify the vital few factors (~20%) that drive the majority of results (~80%).

Process:

1. List all factors/tasks/considerations
2. Estimate relative impact of each
3. Rank by impact
4. Identify where ~20% accounts for ~80% of impact
5. Focus on vital few, deprioritize trivial many

Output: Vital Few (focus here) + Trivial Many (deprioritize)

<first_principles> First Principles Thinking

Strip away assumptions to identify fundamental truths, then rebuild from scratch.

Process:

1. State the problem/belief being examined
2. List all current assumptions (even "obvious" ones)
3. Challenge each: "Is this actually true? Why?"
4. Identify irreducible base truths
5. Rebuild solution from fundamentals only

Output: Current Assumptions (challenged) + Fundamental Truths + New Possibilities </first_principles>

Instead of "How do I succeed?" ask "What would guarantee failure?" then avoid those things.

Process:

1. State the goal
2. Invert: What would guarantee failure?
3. List all failure modes thoroughly
4. For each, identify avoidance strategy
5. Build success plan by avoiding failure