🚀 Breaking Mindset Barriers
A newsletter by Sandeep Ohri – That Strategy Guy
Understand why we do what we do — and how to think smarter, decide better, and lead with behavioural clarity.
Think of this as your behavioural science field guide — no jargon, just real insight.
🧠 Usually, every fortnight on LinkedIn
These articles were originally published in my LinkedIn newsletter. They have been enhanced with additional frameworks and practical applications for this website.
📰 Read the Latest Articles
🔹 What Should We Teach?
AI can give students answers, but can they explain it themselves? Let’s teach them: Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Communication skills.
🔹 Students: Put Your Phones Away
The science behind “No Photos, Only Handwritten Notes”. Because the fastest way to CAPTURE info isn’t always the best way to LEARN it!
🔹 Fixed Pie, Zero Sum, and Win-Win
We often use these three expressions interchangeably. They’re not. Expand the negotiation, the “pie” may be bigger than you think!
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You could also share these Newsletters with someone who overthinks… in a good way!
🔹 Generous Is Not The Same As Free
Why “How Much Do You Charge?” Is Harder to Answer Than It Sounds. Be generous with your ideas. Be intentional with your time.
🔹 Feedback or Complaint?
When someone tells us something is wrong – even without an ask – our brains immediately trigger a reciprocity response. We feel obligated to act because we’ve been given something (information). Receiving without acting creates cognitive discomfort.
🔹 Your Real Startup Capital
Your reputation is your real startup capital – it compounds quietly, in every interaction, in every decision, even when and where nobody is watching.
🔹 Monks, Rotary, Business and BeSci
If goodwill has measurable financial value on a balance sheet, why do we treat it as optional in human behaviour? We don’t rise to our values. We fall to our defaults.
🔹 No Regrets!
The Most Useful Emotion You’re Doing Wrong – Not all regret is created equal! I’ve been thinking about this, and I believe we experience regret in four distinct situations.
🔹 What Do You Believe?
Most of us have built elaborate belief systems we’ve never stress-tested or thought through. When My Sore Throat Taught Me About Magical Thinking – And Why Your Beliefs Deserve Better.
🔹 Your Brain Got Hacked
There are four cognitive hijacks that try to compromise your thinking. Learn to recognise when your thinking is being hijacked – then consciously choose to THINK instead of REACT!
🔹 The SLOP Test
Why your Gen Z employees keep quitting (and why you’re the problem)… Or how Baby Boomers and Gen Z can actually work together without throwing staplers at each other!
🔹 You’re In A Loop
Why we do what we do (and how to change it) – A cautionary tale involving an air fryer, popcorn, and my disappearing discipline!
🔹 What’s in a Name?
The science behind brand names that stick. Or why “Arattai” might just be too much to ask from your tongue! Naming is a strategic decision, not a creative indulgence.
🔹 Save or Make?
Should you promise to Save Money, triggering our deep-rooted fear of loss, or boldly say Make Money, appealing to our greed? Come find out!
🔹 Life is a Game
Discover why the just-world hypothesis fails and how game theory can transform your decisions. Learn the psychology behind risk, probability, and strategic thinking.
🔹 Behaviour in Fables
Explore behaviour in fables and ancient wisdom that reveals insights into psychology and decision-making via Aesop’s fables, Panchatantra stories, and Jataka Tales.
🔹 Grades or Growth?
The hidden cost of parental pressure. Discover how parental pressure backfires and learn evidence-based strategies to support your child’s genuine growth and long-term success.
🔹 The Scent of Influence
Fragrance is an invisible influence—it shapes your mood, memory, and decisions. It can manipulate, comfort, connect, or even confuse… often without your awareness.
🔹 Leadership: A Privilege, not a Pedestal
Leaders who cling to privilege lose the plot—the moment they start believing they deserve special treatment, they stop leading. The real test of leadership isn’t about how you get there—it’s what you do once you arrive.
🔹 The Hidden Cost Of Clutter
Clutter isn’t just about messy spaces. It’s about mental overload, decision fatigue, and unnecessary stress. The more you hold on to, the less space you have—physically and mentally—for things that actually matter.
🔹 The FOUR of us!
Did you know that every human carries their own Fantastic Four? There’s a constant struggle to reconcile the four versions of yourselves, which are subtler, almost invisible to your conscious mind.
🔹 Did You Have a Happy Year?
Do you really know the why and how of happiness? Happiness is just a D.O.S.E. away! Say hello to Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins and the chemical truth in your brains!
🔹 Reality, Reasoning and Randomness
Reality, Reasoning, and Randomness: The Three R’s That Rule Your Life. How these interconnected forces constantly influence how you navigate life—and what to do about it.
🔹 Instinct, Intuition and Rationality
Instinct, Intuition, and Rationality: Mastering the Three Voices in Your Head. Why understanding your brain’s three decision-making systems is the key to better choices.
🔹 Making Better Decisions
Making Better Decisions: What Business Can Learn from Military Strategy. How the three-level military decision-making framework can revolutionise your business and personal choices.
