toohardpile.com

Too Hard Pile trains 13 mental models across 1,300 practice drills, and the model explanations themselves are free to read. The five models named explicitly on the site are inversion, first principles, incentives, base rates, and margin of safety — with second-order effects also called out as a selectable model in the drill flow. If you want to know whether the specific tool you care about is covered, the free model library is the fastest way to check before creating an account.

The models named on the site

The homepage and drill flow name these models directly:

That's six models with direct textual support. The site states the total is 13, so the remaining seven aren't enumerated in the material available — the free model explanations are where the full list lives.

How each model is trained

The training loop is the same regardless of which model you pick, and it's designed so the model fires without a prompt eventually:

1. Pick a model. You choose the one that's "messing with your decisions this week" — inversion, incentives, second-order effects, or another from the 13.
2. Drill it. You get a short, real scenario. You answer before the drill shows you anything. The site's stated rationale: "The struggle is the part that teaches."
3. Watch it go automatic. You rate yourself, the drill comes back on a schedule, and the goal is that one day you don't need the prompt anymore.

The key mechanic is commit-before-you-peek. Every drill makes you answer first, so you can't skim a paragraph and move on. That's what separates this from reading a list of biases.

What "1,300 drills across 13 models" actually means

Roughly 100 drills per model if evenly distributed — but the site doesn't break down the count per model, so treat that as an estimate, not a spec. What's confirmed: 13 models, 1,300 drills, 5 minutes a day as the suggested pace.

The free tier gives you 6 drills, 5 journal entries, and the whole Toolbox, with no card and no time limit. So you can sample several different models before deciding whether the full set is worth it.

The journal is the part that checks whether the model worked

Drills train the tools; the journal tells you if they're working. You write down the call you're about to make — the decision, what you predict happens, how sure you are — and weeks later it comes back and asks whether you were right. The site's own framing: "Almost nobody does the second part — this makes you."

This matters for model selection because a model you feel you've learned isn't the same as one that improved your calls. The journal is the only part that keeps score.

How to decide if your model is covered

• Check the free model explanations first. They're free, and they're the authoritative list of all 13.
• Use the 6 free drills to test the training feel. Try a drill with no signup, then decide if the commit-first format works for you.
• If your model isn't in the six named above, don't assume it's missing — the site only names a subset in the material available. Verify against the free library before concluding.

Too Hard Pile is a website for practicing critical thinking on realistic decisions instead of reading about it. It offers 13 mental models, 1,300 practice drills, and a decision journal that follows up on your calls weeks later. A free account includes 6 drills, 5 journal entries, and the full Toolbox, with no card required and no time limit. It suits anyone who wants to train judgment on hard, high-stakes-style choices in about five minutes a day.

What it actually is

The site's own framing is blunt: "Reading about thinking doesn't make you think better." Instead of handing you a list of biases to memorize, it gives you a decision that is genuinely hard and won't move forward until you commit to an answer.

The core loop is:

• Pick a model — Inversion, incentives, second-order effects, or another from the set.
• Drill it — Short, real scenarios where you answer first, before seeing anything.
• Let it go automatic — You rate yourself, the drill returns on a schedule, and eventually you don't need the prompt.

The library covers 13 mental models and 1,300 practice drills, including inversion, first principles, incentives, base rates, and margin of safety.

Why the "answer first" design matters

Three design choices distinguish it from reading a book or article:

1. You do it, you don't read it. Every other resource tends to hand you theory; this hands you a call you have to make.
2. Commit before you peek. You answer before the drill reveals anything. The struggle is treated as the teaching mechanism.
3. It keeps score honestly. The best decision makers write the call down before they know how it ends, then check back. Almost nobody does the second part — this makes you.

The decision journal

Drills train the tools. The journal is what tells you whether they're working, because it's the only part that keeps score.

You write down the decision, what you predict happens, and how sure you are. Weeks later, it comes back and asks whether you were right. That follow-up is the honest bit most people skip.

Who it's for

The scenarios are framed around decisions where getting it wrong costs years, relationships, or the life you could have had — where to invest, whether to leave a job, who to build a life with, when to walk away. If you want structured reps on judgment rather than more theory, this is the intended use.

What the free account includes

You can also try a drill without signing up at all.

Getting started

1. Open the site and try a drill with no signup.
2. Create a free account to unlock the 6 drills and 5 journal entries.
3. Pick one model that matches a decision you're facing this week.
4. Answer before revealing anything, then rate yourself.
5. Write one real decision into the journal with your prediction and confidence level.
6. Come back when it resurfaces and check whether you were right.

The site lists a Pricing page for paid tiers, but the free tier is the natural starting point for testing whether the drill-and-journal loop fits how you want to train.

Too Hard Pile is a critical-thinking training site built around doing rather than reading. Its method has three parts: pick a mental model, answer a real decision scenario before seeing anything else, then let the drill come back on a schedule until the model fires on its own. A separate decision journal asks you weeks later whether the call you wrote down was right. The free account covers 6 drills, 5 journal entries, and the full Toolbox, with no card and no time limit.

The three-step drill loop

The site describes its core loop as three steps:

1. Pick a model. Choose from 13 mental models — inversion, incentives, second-order effects, first principles, base rates, margin of safety, and others — based on whatever is currently distorting your decisions.
2. Drill it. Each drill is a short, real scenario. You answer first. The scenario does not advance until you commit to a call.
3. Watch it go automatic. You rate yourself, the drill returns on a schedule, and eventually you no longer need the prompt.

The catalog is 1,300 drills across those 13 models, sized at roughly five minutes a day.

Why committing before you peek is the point

The design choice that separates this from reading-based content is ordering: you answer before the site shows you anything. The stated rationale is that the struggle of producing a judgment is the part that teaches, whereas skimming a list of cognitive biases and moving on does not.

This matters for how you use it. If you read the scenario, read the explanation, and nod, you have recreated the reading behavior the site is arguing against. The drill only works as intended if you write or select an answer while still unsure.

The decision journal keeps score

Drills train the tools. The journal is what tests whether the tools are working, and the site is explicit that this is the honest part almost nobody does.

The journal flow:

• Write the call. Record the decision you are about to make, what you predict will happen, and how confident you are.
• Come back later. The entry returns and asks whether you were right.

The reasoning given is that strong decision makers write the call down before they know the outcome, then go back and check. The journal forces the second half of that habit, which is the half people skip.

What the free tier includes

A "Try a drill" path is also offered without signup, so you can test the answering-before-revealing mechanic before creating anything. Pricing for anything beyond the free tier is listed on a separate pricing page; the site does not state those figures in the material here, so check that page directly if you need them.

Who this fits, and who it doesn't

It fits you if:

• You already know the vocabulary of mental models and want reps applying them under uncertainty.
• You are willing to write predictions and be checked on them later.
• Five minutes a day of short scenarios matches how you actually build a habit.

It fits you less if:

• You want explanations of what each model is. The site positions itself as practice, not theory — the models are named and drilled, not taught from scratch.
• You want to read about decision-making rather than produce judgments. The format actively blocks passive consumption.
• You need the journal's accountability loop but won't return to old entries. That step is the one the site says most people skip, and it is where the feedback lives.

The clearest way to evaluate the claim that this beats reading is to run one drill and notice whether you had to think before the answer appeared. That single rep tells you more than the marketing copy does.

The decision journal on Too Hard Pile is a written record of a call you are about to make — the decision itself, what you predict will happen, and how confident you are — that the site brings back to you weeks later so you can check whether you were right. It is the part of the platform that keeps score, and a free account includes 5 journal entries.

What you actually write down

The journal is not a diary of what happened. It is a record made before the outcome is known, which is what makes it useful. Based on the site's description, an entry captures:

• The call — the decision you are about to make, stated plainly.
• Your prediction — what you expect to happen as a result.
• Your confidence — how sure you are, so that later you can separate a good call from a lucky one.

The order matters. You commit first, then the outcome arrives on its own. That is the whole point: if you write the prediction after you know how it turned out, you learn nothing.

Why it comes back weeks later

Most people make a decision, live with the result, and never revisit the reasoning. The journal closes that loop by returning to the entry on a delay and asking whether your prediction held up.

This separates two things that are easy to confuse:

A good decision can produce a bad outcome, and a careless decision can get lucky. Because the journal recorded your confidence and reasoning before the result, you can tell which one you're looking at. That is the "honest bit" the site refers to — it is the only part that keeps score.

How it fits with the drills

The two features do different jobs:

• Drills (1,300 of them, across 13 mental models) train the thinking tools — inversion, incentives, second-order effects, base rates, and so on — by making you answer before anything is revealed.
• The journal tests whether those tools are actually improving your real-world calls.

Drills build the skill; the journal tells you whether the skill is working. Neither replaces the other.

What it costs to use

A free account includes 6 drills, 5 journal entries, and the whole Toolbox, with no card required and no time limit. The site lists a separate Pricing page, so if you want more than those limits, that is where the paid tiers would be described. The free tier is enough to run the full loop — write a call, wait, get asked about it — several times over.

A concrete example

Say you are deciding whether to leave your job. You open a journal entry and write:

• The call: I will resign by the end of next month.
• Prediction: I will have a signed offer within 8 weeks, and my savings will cover 6 months of expenses.
• Confidence: 70%.

Weeks later the entry resurfaces. If you got the offer in 5 weeks, your prediction held and your confidence was reasonable. If you are still searching at week 12, the journal shows you where your model of the situation was off — not just that things went badly, but which assumption failed. That is the feedback a plain outcome never gives you.

When this is worth doing

The journal is most useful for decisions that are slow to resolve and expensive to get wrong — the kind the site frames as "too hard": where to invest, whether to leave a job, when to walk away. If a decision resolves in a day, the delay adds little. If it plays out over months, the journal is the only way to compare what you believed with what happened.

Too Hard Pile's free account includes 6 practice drills, 5 decision-journal entries, and the full Toolbox, with no credit card required and no time limit. The site also has a Pricing page, which means paid tiers exist — but the free tier is a real, permanent account rather than a trial. Whether you need to pay depends on how often you drill: 6 drills is roughly a week of daily five-minute practice, so anyone planning to build a habit will likely hit the ceiling.

What the free account covers

According to the site's own description, creating a free account gets you:

• 6 drills — short, real decision scenarios where you commit to an answer before seeing anything
• 5 journal entries — the decision journal where you write down a call, your prediction, and your confidence level, then get asked weeks later whether you were right
• The whole Toolbox — the full set of mental models, not a sample
• No card, no time limit — the account doesn't expire and doesn't ask for payment details

You can also try a drill without signing up at all, so you can test the format before creating anything.

What the free tier doesn't tell you

The site advertises 13 mental models and 1,300 practice drills in total. The free account caps you at 6 drills, so the overwhelming majority of the drill library sits behind the paid tier. The Toolbox itself is free in full — meaning you can read about all 13 models — but reading isn't the point of the product. The drills are where the models get trained, and that's the part that's limited.

The journal has the same shape: 5 entries free, and the journal is described as "the only part that keeps score." If you use it as intended — one entry per real decision — 5 entries goes quickly.

What requires payment

The site has a Pricing page, so paid plans exist. The available material doesn't specify what the paid tiers include or what they cost, so check the Pricing page directly for:

• How many drills and journal entries each paid tier unlocks
• Whether billing is monthly or annual
• Whether there's a refund window

Don't assume the free tier is a time-limited trial — it isn't. Don't assume the paid tier is required to use the Toolbox — it isn't either.

How to decide whether free is enough

The honest test: create the free account, work through the 6 drills at the intended pace of about five minutes a day, and see whether the format actually makes you commit to answers rather than skim. If it does, and you want more, the Pricing page is the next stop. If the format doesn't hold your attention, the free tier has already told you what you need to know — and it cost you nothing.