Leverage Maps: Mental Models For Making Systems Move

Chapter 1 – Learning Loops, Convictions, and Mirrors

To be successful in life, in whatever way you choose to define success, it is helpful to have clarity that supports your external behaviors. We often get clarity from learning, but self clarity that comes from introspection is also valuable. By being grounded in who you are, what you believe in, and what you are working towards, the opportunities presented to us are easier to see. If we have clarity, we can choose a path forward to get to what we want. This chapter explores mechanisms and strategies to foster clarity.

Tools That Think With You

The rise of large language models (LLMs) has accelerated change in work, relationships, and daily life. In this rapidly shifting landscape, the most valuable skill isn't keeping up with every trend. It's maintaining personal clarity about what matters and where you're headed. ChatGPT and similar tools aren't just productivity boosters. They can be intellectual sparring partners that help you learn, write, and think more clearly. One caveat is that LLMs can be echo chambers if you’re not careful, as noted by psychologists like Dr. K (Dr. Alok Kanojia). A mitigation is using AI as a thinking partner, not a decision maker. Let it help you articulate your thoughts and explore different angles, but maintain ownership of your conclusions.



Leverage Map 1.1: Learning through Question/Answer Loops.

There is value in exploring concepts iteratively as you learn. When preparing for my Fundamentals of Engineering exam in Mechanical Engineering, it had been a couple of years since I thought about a significant chunk of the exam material. While studying, I askedChatGPT to explain complex concepts as I worked through practice problems. Through iterative prompting and checking other resources as needed, I traced formulas back to their grounding principles and chased the "why" behind everything. By connecting macro-level equations to microbehavior step-by-step, I accelerated my learning and covered far more ground than traditional study methods allowed. With iterative prompting when studying you can more quickly make conceptual connections that cement your learning.



Leverage Map 1.2: Using infinite first drafts to process your thoughts.

LLMs can make half-formed ideas into clearer drafts to help you see your thinking more objectively. The responses should be considered snapshots of what your thinking currently is. As you ask an LLM to critique, elaborate, or give feedback on your ideas, you can identify where it misinterprets you or provides bad output. It also becomes clear what your blind spots or implicit assumptions are. This is when the learning can occur.

For example, using an LLM to flesh out a business idea about selling recyclable plastic forks might surface the capital costs for an injection mold that you had not considered. This would tell you that learning more about manufacturing techniques is important before continuing with the venture.The value isn’t in the exact output. Instead, the value is in being pointed in a direction for further exploration or study.



Leverage Map 1.3: Reflect with AI to extract lessons from your past.

Extracting lessons helps you not repeat the same mistakes. When I left Sparx Engineering to take a sabbatical in June 2025, I dedicated time to understanding what I learned from 2+ years in the role. Through guided introspection with AI, I identified subtle patterns that were hard to see while in execution mode. The AI helped me articulate observations I couldn't quite put into words. I then refined those insights through journaling and further reflection. Using this process of iterative journaling with AI can help you identify industry-relevant frameworks to reposition yourself more strategically.

Convictions as Your North Star

Predicting the future is impossible, but positioning yourself for likely scenarios is achievable. The key is developing convictions and continuously refining them as new information emerges. Convictions are informed beliefs about future trends that guide your decisions. Think of convictions as your strategic compass. They don't need to be perfectly accurate to be valuable. They just need to point you in a direction that's better than random.



Leverage Map 1.4: Refine your convictions to prepare for the future.

When computer science graduates began increasing by 10x in the 2010s, it signaled that junior software engineering roles would eventually get saturated. It was challenging to predict exactly when. It wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic hit that fresh graduates began struggling to land junior software engineering roles. If you were paying attention to the CS boom, you could have formed the conviction "Junior dev roles will become competitive; I should differentiate myself." Acting on that conviction during college might have led you to pivot into emerging niches like AI or site reliability engineering, hedging against the coming saturation.

This is the power of conviction-based positioning. You don't need perfect timing. You need directional accuracy and the willingness to adjust course.

I experienced this with Bitcoin. In college, I studied the economics of fixed supply commodities and formed a conviction about cryptocurrency's investment potential. I tried to time the market but got flattened by the 2021 and 2022 bear markets. I couldn't time the market, but I kept refining my understanding of blockchain technology and long time horizon market dynamics. When the bull market emerged in 2024, I was positioned to take profits that funded my sabbatical. The conviction evolved, but the core thesis guided consistent action over the years.

The same principle of refining your convictions applies whether you're navigating career moves, investment decisions, or strategic life choices. By constantly updating your convictions based on new information, you walk in a more optimal direction. Your individual steps may not be perfect, but on average, you'll consistently outpace those who either act without conviction or wait for certainty that never comes.

Write to See, Not Just to Say

Writing isn't just about communication to others. It's also about self-discovery. The act of putting thoughts into words reveals what you actually think. When I began writing a post-mortem of an aerospace project I was on, I began by writing about how it was improving my systems engineering skills but degrading my software engineering abilities. Through the process of articulating this tension, I realized my framing was wrong. The project wasn't hurting my technical development. It was teaching me test engineering and strategic systems thinking that would later directly feed into other software projects and this book. Writing forced me to see the real value I was gaining instead of fixating on what I thought I was losing.

Career Reflection in Real Time

This same writing-to-discover process becomes invaluable for career decisions and professional growth. AI excels at connecting dots across different experiences that are hard to see while living them, and it forces you to confront patterns you are avoiding. AI serves as a mirror.



Leverage Map 1.5: Identify systemic patterns in your career.

When I reflected on past role conflicts and frustrations from previous roles, I used LLMs to identify systemic issues and patterns that I could have handled differently. Instead of blaming circumstances, situations, or other people, I could see times when I should have been more proactive about setting expectations, developing negotiation skills, or documenting the value I brought to my workplace. I began to recognize that I was optimizing for four specific factors: job satisfaction, stability, work-life balance, and impact. The conversations with the LLM helped me move from vague career anxiety to concrete criteria I could use for decision-making. 

📘 Leverage Summary

Chapter 1 – Convictions, Mirrors, and Learning Loops

The tools and mechanisms from this chapter can help you articulate what you're really thinking and identify patterns you can't see from inside your own experience. The goal is building a systematic process for clearer thinking about your career and your future. While using LLMs helps speed up the process or get perspective, it shouldn’t replace your critical thinking, judgment, or supply your convictions.

System Maps:



Leverage Map 1.1: Learning through Question/Answer Loops.



Leverage Map 1.2: Using infinite first drafts to process your thoughts.



Leverage Map 1.3: Reflect with AI to extract lessons from your past.



Leverage Map 1.4: Refine your convictions to prepare for the future.



Leverage Map 1.5: Use AI to identify systemic patterns in your career.

Diagnostic Questions:

  • When I prompt, journal, or reflect, what am I really trying to clarify?
  • Do I default to prediction (exact outcome) or conviction (durable orientation)?
  • Am I building systems that reveal what I think or chasing answers?
  • How often does my AI dialogue challenge me versus validate what I want to hear?

Action Steps:

  1. Write down 3 personal convictions about your industry/career; stress-test them against new information this month
  2. Run one "infinite first draft" loop with AI on a question you're unclear about. Track what you discover versus what you started thinking
  3. Try one LLM reflection session on a recent work frustration. Ask it to identify patterns you might be missing
  4. Experiment with getting to a 60/40 agreement ratio during an LLM conversation: if the LLM agrees with everything, push it to challenge your assumptions