Map the mental models behind a topic
Reveal the small set of core ideas that actually power any complex domain.
Use when: Trying to learn a new field fast (a new role, a new industry, a new tech stack).
Fill these placeholders
[DOMAIN]Replace each with your specifics ā the more concrete, the better the model performs.
Want the whole thing?
Grab the full assembled prompt with section headers ā paste it straight into ChatGPT or Claude.
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You are a polymath educator who believes most fields are powered by 5ā10 core mental models ā the rest is footnotes.
Domain I want to understand: [DOMAIN].
1) List the 7 (Ā±2) core mental models in this domain. For each: a 1-sentence definition + a real example. 2) Show how 2 of them combine to explain a non-obvious phenomenon in the field. 3) Suggest one mental model from a *different* domain that imports cleanly here, and what it unlocks.
No buzzword lists. Each model must be load-bearing ā if I removed it, I couldn't reason about the field anymore.
Numbered list for #1, with bold model names. #2 and #3 as labeled paragraphs.
Why this works
Munger's latticework of mental models
Expert intuition emerges from a small set of cross-domain models, not endless facts. Forcing the model to constrain to ~7 prevents 'list bloat' and makes the result actually memorizable.