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Join Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera from Cornell University as they inspire you to approach life's challenges with a fresh perspective. Witness their use of GOAT-level thinking to enhance your problem-solving skills. Discover new possibilities, approaches, and solutions you never knew existed. Elevate your thinking and get better every day with their entertaining guidance.
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Get 20% off any STSI course with code SIMPLE20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle a deceptively hard question: what do you do when someone is overwhelmed, talking a mile a minute, and stuck inside their own thoughts and emotions? Rather than offering advice or arguing content, they show how to slow a conversation down and help someone actually see their mental model. Using a realistic leader...
In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle a problem nearly everyone feels but few can name: constant overwhelm in a world flooded with information. From social media and news to work demands and family pressures, it feels like there’s simply too much coming at us all the time. But the real problem isn’t information overload—it’s organization overload. The Cabreras explain why more information doesn’t make us smarter, more informed, or more grounded, and why b...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code THINKING20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle one of the most frustrating human experiences: knowing exactly what you should do—and doing the opposite anyway. Is this a motivation problem, a discipline problem, or something deeper? Using systems thinking and real-world examples like smoking, exercising, speaking up in meetings, and setting boundaries, th...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code MOTIVATION20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University unpack a new research paper on mental fitness and challenge nearly everything we think we know about intelligence, burnout, and mental health. Mental fitness, they explain, isn’t a trait, a feeling, or a mindset—it’s a complex adaptive system made up of four interdependent dimensions: cognitive, emotional, motivational, and physic...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code MENTALFITNESS20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University explore a struggle many people quietly live with every day: a negative inner voice that puts you down, limits your confidence, and distorts what you believe about yourself. They explain how this voice often isn’t truly “yours,” but something you’ve adopted over time—sometimes from school, authority figures, or ...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code 20FOR100 — start building your mental fitness today! In this special milestone episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University celebrate the 100th episode of the Cabrera Lab Podcast by doing something big: ranking the top 10 themes that have emerged across the entire show. From simple rules creating complex results to embracing both-and thinking, from culture as shared mental models to seeing webs of causality instead of root causes, they rev...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code REFLECT20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University unpack what reflection actually is—and why most people misunderstand it. Reflection isn’t a feeling, a yearly ritual, or a vague act of looking back. It’s a structural process rooted in how the mind organizes information. Using systems thinking and DSRP, they explain why you don’t learn by doing—you learn by reflecting on experience,...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code HOLIDAY20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this holiday edition of Think It Through, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle one of the most common—and least talked about—seasonal struggles: why fully capable adults suddenly feel like children again the moment they walk into their childhood home. They break down how identity shifts based on who we’re with, why old family dynamics snap back into place, and how tiny reactio...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code SYSTEMS20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle a deceptively simple question they were asked at a social event: “What can you do that other people can’t do if you’re a systems thinker?” Their answer is grounded in research, not hype. They break down the stunning cognitive law showing that most people rely on only 20% of the mental structures reality is made of, leaving 75%...
Get 20% off any STSI course with code THINKITTHROUGH20 — start building your mental fitness today! In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University break down a problem facing kids, college students, and professionals alike: what do you do when you do exceptional work—but the system only rewards strict compliance? Using a real classroom story, workplace examples, and a surprisingly accurate metaphor involving “shit sliders,” they unpack how tiny acts of c...
Get 25% off any STSI course with code THANKS25 - Happy Thanksgiving! In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle a listener’s real-life parenting dilemma: a 10-year-old boy terrified of monsters lurking in his house. What begins as a bedtime fear unfolds into a profound lesson on mental models, evidence, and how we teach kids to tell what’s real from what’s imagined. Through the lens of systems thinking, the Cabreras show how fears—childhood o...
Get 15% off any STSI course with code THINK15 — start training your brain today! In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University explore one of the simplest—but most profound—thinking skills: drawing the boundary between what something is and what it is not. They unpack how this move, called Is/Is Not List, sits at the core of systems thinking and shows up in everything from team communication to personal growth. From construct validity in science to everyday misundersta...
Get 15% off any systems thinking course with code ST-15 - become a professional systems thinker today: https://www.stsi.pro/category/credential In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University revisit two of their most powerful ideas about the future of education: “We teach humans, not subjects,” and “What if we taught thinking through content, not content through thinking?” They explain how O-based education—rooted in the DSRP patterns of thought and the Love Reality Loo...
In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University unpack one of life’s most universal challenges: how to take feedback that clashes with your self-image. What starts as a simple question—“How do I handle feedback that hurts?”—turns into a deep exploration of identity, ego, and growth. They reveal how most people unconsciously build mental “castle walls” around their self-concept, blocking feedback that could help them evolve. Through humor, real-world examp...
In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University take a rapid-fire tour through some of the most famous systems thinking quotes from legends like Donella Meadows, Peter Senge, Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming, and even the Buddha. Laura reads each quote, and Derek rates them 1–10 on validity, reliability, and usefulness—revealing which ideas stand up to science and which ones fall apart under scrutiny. From “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets” (...
In this Think It Through episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University tackle two everyday problems that reveal the hidden power of systems thinking. They start by breaking down why theory and practice are never truly separate, showing how real solutions emerge when people think structurally—whether they’re leading teams or navigating family life. Using a 7% market growth challenge as a case study, they introduce a powerful move called P Gen S Drop P—a simple way to align marke...
In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University help a listener untangle a familiar problem: saying yes to everything and ending up exhausted, resentful, and burned out. They diagram the hidden mental model behind overcommitment—a self-made loop of guilt, fear, and misplaced responsibility—and show how systems thinking can break it. You’ll learn how to set real boundaries without guilt, stop assuming what others think of you, and reclaim your time and energy. From the “2...
In this practical episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University show how the same underlying mental structures shape both family life and organizational culture. From a frustrated parent arguing with a teen about driving to a CEO dealing with conflicting rules in the workplace, the problem isn’t people—it’s the invisible mental models guiding their behavior. Using simple systems thinking tools, they break down how to surface, compare, and rebuild shared mental models that actua...
In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University take a wrecking ball to the confusion surrounding systems thinking. Whether you’re brand new to the field or knee-deep in its many (often conflicting) methodologies, this episode will save you years of frustration by cutting straight to the core: what systems thinking is, what it’s not, and how to actually get good at it. They reveal why most systems thinking resources are either snake oil or rabbit holes, and why practicing...
In this episode, Drs. Derek and Laura Cabrera of Cornell University answer a simple but urgent question from a parent: “Can you teach systems thinking to kids?” Spoiler: not only can you, you should—and it may be the most important thing you ever do. They break down why kids are actually better systems thinkers than adults (fewer bad habits), how to teach the Six Moves in everyday life (with groceries, frogs, or even sugar packets), and why teaching the structure of thought—not just informat...
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