The Field Guide
Every lens this publication has installed, in one place.
The Gap works by installing lenses. Each post names a pattern you’re already living inside, so you can catch yourself in the act. The lenses compound: every one makes the others sharper.
This page is the full set. It gets updated when a new one ships. If you’re new, this is where to start. Read whichever one catches you.
The actual question. The real question hiding behind the one you asked. “How should I price this?” is rarely about pricing. From The Answer You Came In With.
Permission, courage, or company. The three things you actually want when you ask for advice. None of them is advice. Same post: The Answer You Came In With.
Applause action items. Commitments made in meetings that were never promises, just social gestures that earned a nod. From Most of Your Action Items Aren’t.
The useful lie. A belief that isn’t accurate but makes you act better. Sometimes worth keeping. From The Useful Lie.
Staging. The research that isn’t research. Preparation as a socially acceptable form of delay. From You Already Know.
Emotional hedging. Not letting a win land so a future loss can’t hurt. From Take the Win.
The let-it-land pause. The breath you take before deflecting a compliment. If your first response isn’t a breath, you’re hedging. Same post: Take the Win.
Parked. Choosing not to move while calling it stuck. Stuck has a wall. Parked has a parking brake, and your hand is on it. From The Speed You Chose.
The standing ovation. The imaginary conversation that goes so well it removes your motivation to have the real one. From The Conversation You Already Had.
The deniability collection. The saved articles, courses, and bookmarks that function as insurance against being accused of ignorance, not as preparation. From The Bookmark Graveyard.
The endurance trap. The cultural programming that makes persistence a moral virtue, so you keep losing propositions alive because stopping feels like a character flaw. From You Quit, or You Stopped.
Overfeeling, not overthinking. The thinking is where you hide from the feeling. From You’re Not Overthinking.
The permission audit. Before asking for advice, write down what you’d do if nobody was watching. If the answer comes immediately, you don’t need advice. From The Question Behind the Question.
Calendar-busy vs. nervous-system-busy. One is structural and responds to scheduling. The other is atmospheric, made of open loops, and doesn’t. From Busy Is a Feeling.
Signal vs. noise procrastination. Some avoidance carries information about your values. Some of it means the task is boring and you’re a person. The diagnostic: if it were magically done, would anything feel different? From What I Got Wrong About Procrastination, correcting Procrastination Is the Answer.
Old glass. The outdated reflection of you held by the people who’ve known you longest. The older the relationship, the older the glass. From The Version of You.
The same mistake in different clothes. Your errors look new at the instance level. In aggregate, you’re a rerun. And its partner: a resolution is a mood, a rule is a mechanism. From I Keep a File of My Mistakes.
That’s the set so far. I add to it when I have something worth adding, which is the only schedule this publication has ever had.
