Over the last three posts, we’re focusing on answering one question: what is a Foundational Framework? The best way to describe what a foundational framework is to tell you another story.
Sailing Around the World
Now, imagine with me that I told you, I had just read a book about a couple who had sailed around the world with their kids.
Where the Magic Happens
And I had decided my wife and I were going to do the same thing. We’re going to sail around the world, but I have three concerns.
Some Valid Concerns
Concern #1: I don’t actually know how to sail a boat. That might be problematic; that’s a serious problem.
Concern #2: I’m unsure how to stock supplies for an entire year. Do I need to set out with everything I need for the whole year, or do I need to plan to stop and ports around the world to resupply?
I’m not really sure how to stock supplies for an entire year. Also a valid concern.
Concern #3: My third and final concern is that I’m actually quite worried I will sail off the edge of the world.
Which One of These is Not Like the Others?
So we have three very valid concerns. However, you and I both know that one of these is foundational.
One of these must be addressed before the other two can be effectively addressed.
Accurate Frameworks Make All the Difference
We know that the earth is not flat because we have a mental model, a Foundational Framework, of the world that is much more like the sphere on the left than the hemisphere on the right.
Because of this mental model, we know that sailing off the edge of the earth is not actually a concern, but until we address that; until you help me understand that the earth is not flat, none of the other two concerns actually even matter. We could talk about them,but it would be “cart before the horse.”
So although not knowing how to sail a boat and stocking supplies for an entire year are valid concerns. They are secondary to this more foundational concern.
My Foundational Framework is that the world is flat. And we must address that before we can talk about stocking supplies or learning how to sail the boat until I understand that the world is actually round, nothing else matters.
Framework 0: Mental Models
I call this Framework 0: Mental Models. It’s the idea of mental models or mental maps. They are paradigms. They are worldviews. In a nutshell, it is the way we think the world works.
This isn’t Philosophy – it’s Neuroscience
Neuroscientists tell us that all of us create mental models of how the world works, mental maps of how the world functions. The degree to which those models are accurate is the degree to which we operate effectively in the world.
We All Create Them But We Rarely Question Them
And then we live our lives. According to those models, to those maps. Unfortunately we rarely take the time to examine those maps and assess if they’re helping us, if they are accurate.
And if they’re aren’t true or useful,many of us end up wandering to a certain extent through life, not realizing that the very map we’re looking at is not accurate and not helpful.
It’s a lot like wandering through the streets of New York city with a map of Chicago, nothing else matters until we address the fact that we are working off of the wrong map.