A useful tool that I’ve found for acquiring knowledge is the “mental model approach.” Mental models are central ideas that help us understand how the world works or understand how our mental processes lead us astray. You can also think of a mental model as a “big idea from one of the big disciplines,” like psychology, history, biology, physics, and other subjects. Essentially, mental models are used by our brains to look at and understand the world.
When you use the mental model approach, you should have a framework of a multitude of mental models to associate new ideas you learn. This structure of mental models allows us to understand our past experiences and then analyze and act upon new situations. In this case, when the big ideas from a variety of multiple disciplines all lead you to the same conclusion, it is likely that you have encountered an important truth in life.