You use mental models all. the. time. They're shortcuts, lenses that you see the world through. And as a result, affect everything in your life.Good mental models, help. But a lot of our goals, dreams and success are held back by bad mental models. Truths that we act in accordance with, but actually aren't true at all.Many of them are ones that we all use. Many of them I still use (must. try. harder).If you're unaware of them, then they could be happily working away, sabotaging your best laid plans.Working with 119 founders over the last 12 months, it's been interesting to see these mental models in action from the other side of the table.So here's an attempt to shine a light on mental models that startup founders (and non founders) use that don't help.

Our narrative as a capitalistic society is this - to the victors go the spoils. And those victors are of course, the best warriors in that field. As a result, we like to focus on controlling our outcomes. It’s something most of us strive to do. We want to maximise our chances. We want to believe; that our talent, our skills, our product, our startup, is the only reason we do or do not make it.We also want to believe in some sort of justice. Some meritocracy feels like a fundamental requirement to sustain hope - an essential part of what it means to be human. But the narrative is a lie. A meritocracy this is not. And Lady Luck has a fair bit to do with that.

He sat opposite me. A 19 year old, with all the enthusiasm that comes with it.“You’ve got to be your own worst critic”, I said, pausing just for a second to let that sink it. “Because, if you want the things other people don’t have, you’ve got to be willing to do the things that other people won’t do”. Genius, I thought. A lots changed since then. And a lot hasn’t. I’m cringing as I write this. But also clinging to it, as I still believe it.

Why do things fail? James Clear outlines four reasons for failure:Failure of tactics (how)Failure of strategy (what)Failure of vision (why)Failures of opportunity (who)It’s true, that failure is the likely outcome for most companies.

When was the last time you did something just, because? No rhyme. No reason. No objective or goal. You did it because it just made you happy.

Covid shook the world. People just want to get back to how things were. But that's a fools game. What can startups do to really change the world and set a new normal?

Most people want an answer. How do I achieve X. How do I get Y. This is still true with founders. And very true with first time founders. We’re trained to be answer finders and there’s more than enough content out there to suggest there must be ‘an answer’. It’s understandable that for most people, this is a hard pill to swallow. To accept ambiguity when all you want is certainty. A founder I work with shared this with me on the topic:“Everything can’t make you win, but everything can make you fail”.