Thinking in Tempo

An essay archive exploring the hidden rhythms of strategy, learning, and decision-making. How do we sense time in the middle of action? What happens when we slow down, speed up, or break the pattern entirely?

An open notebook with handwritten notes on tempo and strategy, pen resting beside it

Start Here

New to the collection? These five essays offer the clearest entry points into the ideas that run through the archive. Each one stands alone, but together they map out the territory: momentum, learning, strategy, language, and the overlooked work of problem selection.

Thrust, Drag, and the 10x Effect
Why the metaphor of aerodynamic forces reshapes how we think about productivity and momentum in complex work.
Daemons and the Mindful Learning Curve
The background processes of learning, and what happens when you pay close attention to how skills actually develop.
Towards Thick Strategy Narratives
Moving past thin abstractions in strategy toward stories rich enough to survive contact with reality.
Thinking in a Foreign Language
How the language you think in shapes the decisions you make, and what that means for analytical clarity.
Schleps, Puzzles, and Packages
Solving the problem of which problems to solve, and why the unglamorous ones often matter most.

The Archive by Year

2011
April 21
Road Trip
June 3
Towards Thick Strategy Narratives
August 17
Daemons and the Mindful Learning Curve
October 25
Thrust, Drag, and the 10x Effect
December 29
Clock Hacking
2012
January 28
Does Culture Eat Strategy for Lunch?
April 26
Thinking in a Foreign Language
June 25
Fertile Variables and Rich Moves
October 2
Annealing the Tactical Pattern Stack
2013
February 19
The Cloistered Hedgehog and the Dislocated Fox
May 21
Schleps, Puzzles, and Packages
June 24
Lagrangian and Eulerian Decision Making
December 9
On Making Mistakes
2014
January 13
When Finishing Is Easier Than Starting
July 9
Effort Shock and Reward Shock
September 2
When Is a Year Not a Year?

Browse the full essay index

Glossary

Key terms and concepts that recur throughout the essays. Each one carries a specific meaning within the broader conversation about tempo, strategy, and deliberate practice.

Tempo
The characteristic rhythm and pace of decision-making in a domain.
OODA Loop
Observe, orient, decide, act - a framework for competitive decision cycles.
Thick Narrative
A strategy story rich in context, detail, and adaptive nuance.
Temporal Illegibility
When the time structure of a situation resists easy reading.

See the full glossary

Recently Refreshed

Older essays occasionally receive editorial polish, updated cross-references, or clearer headings. Here are a few that have been through a recent pass:

Fertile Variables and Rich Moves
On choosing which variables to vary and which moves open new territory.
Lagrangian and Eulerian Decision Making
Two ways of tracking change, borrowed from physics and applied to decisions.
PID Control
What a control systems concept can teach us about staying on course.