July 8, 2025: The Mental Shortcut

These are little cheat codes.

When I was a kid, my dad taught me a way to remember the Great Lakes. “Think of all the homes around those shores,” he said. Then came the trick: H-O-M-E-S. Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior.

That memory hack sparked something, and I began seeking other clever ways to hold information and ideas.

I call them frameworks because they’re like mental scaffolding, a structure that organizes my thoughts and can be applied to many situations.

Over time, a few became my go-tos:

• Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits reshaped my priorities

• Rick Warren’s 5 purposes grounded my ministry work

• Donald Miller’s StoryBrand grid clarified my messaging

• Ray Edwards’s PASTOR model sharpened my writing

Then there are the classic tools such as SWOT and the 5 P’s of marketing, so reliable they feel like cheating. I’ve even cooked up a few myself for editing and branding.

Recently I came across another interesting method. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, uses an approach he calls T5T. All 30,000 employees must send a regular email to their boss with the “Top 5 Things” they’re working on or noticing.

This simple action gives a snapshot of the organization's health. Considering Huang leads a $3.9 trillion company and is worth $138 billion, I’d say the framework’s doing its job.

Pretty sure he owns several HOMES around the Great Lakes.