From a Cancelled Meeting with President Zelenskyy to Co-Founding reSTATE
How a 2021 invitation to meet President Zelenskyy became reSTATE, the non-profit I co-founded with Igor Novikov and…
Work with Yu-kai
The Blog
Ideas on motivation, behavior & design.
Deep dives on the psychology behind why people do what they do — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework. Pick the topic that matters to you.
Nationcraft Analysis: Turkey Strongman Discount 2026
A Nationcraft analysis of Turkey in 2026: why the Strongman Discount traps a capable economy, and which reform…
10,000 Hours of Play by OP Hero: David Bowie
David Bowie treated identity as editable equipment: authored, retired, and rebuilt on command. His life mapped to the…
Barnum Effect: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Bertram Forer handed 39 students the same personality sketch, lifted from a newsstand astrology book. They rated it…
10,000 Hours of Play by OP Hero: Michael Dell
Michael Dell built a fortune by deleting the middleman: the direct model, a near-death slump, and the 4.9B…
Lean Startup: An S-Tier Behavioral Designer’s Guide
Short answer: The Lean Startup is a method for building products under high uncertainty by testing your assumptions…
10,000 Hours of Play by OP Hero: Diego Maradona
How Diego Maradona turned a shantytown childhood into a World Cup legend, broken down through the 6-Step 10,000…
10,000 Hours of Play by OP Hero: Novak Djokovic
A kid who practiced in Belgrade bomb craters became the winningest man in tennis. Novak Djokovic's build, run…
Nationcraft Analysis: Hungary Two-Thirds Trap 2026
Hungary's reformer supermajority just inherited the machine Orban built. The Nationcraft Two-Thirds Trap, and the three reform packets…