We're launching 15 new tools made by Clearer Thinking users, as part of our Micro Grants program!

Are you eager to improve your life using a new Clearer Thinking tool? We have not one but fifteen new programs launching on our site today! Read on to find out how these tools can help you understand your mind and change your behavior for the better, and to learn how they were created.

In April 2020, we launched the Clearer Thinking Micro Grants Program, which provided monetary awards for creating educational tools that could be published on our site. This opportunity was open to applications from anyone, anywhere in the world, who wanted to learn new skills and had a practical idea for creating a happier, more rational society. Six months later, we’re delighted to present the 15 winning tools to our audience!

Due to the great success of this program, we hope to run it again in the future. Make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter and social media platforms to receive announcements about the next iteration if you're interested in taking part - 100% of our winners reported that they would like to participate again! 

With the help of the Clearer Thinking team, our micro grant winners have gone through the entire process of building a Clearer Thinking program, developing their ideas from a brief proposal, to a working draft, to a polished final product. These modules cover a wide variety of topics and take roughly 10 and 20 minutes to complete - we think they’ve added a lot of value to our existing library of programs. Congratulations to the winners! Check out the winning tools here:

The Confrontation Aid - Ayesha Ratnayake

Conflict is inevitable, and this tool teaches you the skills to have an effective confrontation using techniques recommended by experts in conflict resolution. You will learn how to identify when confrontation is necessary, how to initiate a confrontation, and how to work collaboratively with your confrontation partner to find a resolution.

Reframing Negative Emotions - Ben Williamson

Using detailed examples, this tool teaches you how to think positively and practically about negative events in your life. You will learn how to reframe the way you look at an upsetting situation, how to find alternatives to self-criticism, and how to use what you’ve learned in past experiences to move forward.

What To Know About Suicide - Brian Bauer

This tool provides evidence-based advice from professionals on how to help someone at risk of suicide. As well as dispelling common myths about suicide, you will learn how to talk to people about suicide, and how to help those at risk create a safety plan. Please note: if you or someone you love is potentially suicidal, please seek expert advice immediately. This tool should not be used as a treatment or replacement for expert help.

Become A Great Listener - Bryn Hopewell

This tool teaches you the skill of Active Listening, a strategy commonly used by therapists, helpline volunteers, and hostage negotiators to make people feel supported and understood. You will be walked through the six techniques used to actively listen to people in your life, and the three barriers that often prevent people from feeling understood.

Managing Arguments in Relationships - Bryn Hopewell

Using an argument of your choosing, this tool helps you examine the elements which make for “bad” confrontations, and provides tips for overcoming these negative behavioral habits. These lessons are taken from John Gottman’s research on divorce prediction in married couples, but are relevant for any kind of relationship! 

Is Your Memory Like A Photograph? - Cristina Mendonça

This tool uses two short tests to demonstrate how we can easily be misled by our memory. Learn whether you retain a faithful representation of the events you witness, or whether your representations of reality are more impressionistic and require interpretation.

Defining Emotions - Christopher Hall

This tool provides an opportunity to reflect on emotions and the ways we categorize them. Using various techniques, you’ll get the chance to think about how you describe the emotions you feel and which sensations accompany them - all with the aim of helping you to deeper understand your experience of the world.

Question Your Identity - Cynthia Pollard

This tool examines how your perceived identity can influence the beliefs you choose to hold. You will learn how to recognize which beliefs form part of your identity, strategies to help you think clearly when presented with information that contradicts these beliefs, and techniques for talking to others about information that contradicts their beliefs. 

Get Going: Overcome Procrastination - Ella Eisemann, Hernán González, Falk Lieder

If you frequently procrastinate on personal or professional projects, this tool could provide the help you need! Using a project of your choosing, you’ll learn about why people procrastinate, identify which aspects of procrastination you struggle with most, and learn how to counter these habits with simple techniques.

Are You Living Your Values? - Falk Lieder, Victoria Amo, Gabriela Iwama

A companion piece to our Intrinsic Values Test, this tool takes your seven most important intrinsic values and helps you consider whether your everyday actions are consistent with these values. You can track your scores and see whether your life satisfaction improves over time.

The Relationship Review - Jamie Gittins

This tool walks you through an exercise for reflecting on your relationship, either with the person in the relationship you want to focus on, or by yourself. You’ll examine how you feel about the time you both spend together, what challenges you experience within the relationship, and which things you are grateful for.

Improve Your Frequency Predictions - Joshua Bromley

This tool illustrates the Availability Heuristic, a mental shortcut we all use to generate intuitive answers to difficult questions. By testing your ability to estimate the frequency of events, you’ll get a chance to practice this heuristic, learning when it works and when it doesn’t. You’ll also get to compare your prediction accuracy to other users!

When To Stop Exploring - Matthew Allcock

Using a simple game as an illustration, this tool teaches you the rules of effective decision-making. You will learn about the explore-exploit tradeoff, the optimal stopping problem, and how to commit to a path of action when faced with uncertainty.

Career Fulfillment Diagnostic - Mila Komarova

Using the Japanese concept of Ikigai, “a reason for getting up in the morning,” this tool helps you identify which aspects of your career you find fulfilling, and which aspects you could feel happier about.

Fail-safing Your Plans - Timo Markowicz

This tool provides a walk-through of a helpful planning strategy known as Prospective Hindsight. You’ll learn how a positive or negative mindset towards a future event or project can distort your expectations, and how to use System 2 thinking to more accurately predict the pitfalls and successes of your plan.

The Clearer Thinking Micro Grants program consisted of three stages, each with its own award ($50 for an initial proposal, $150 for a detailed outline, and $395 for creating a complete interactive module). We received 95 proposals for the first stage of the program and chose 16 applicants to advance to the second stage. We were so impressed with the quality of these outlines that we invited all 16 to the third stage of the program (building an entire Clearer Thinking module in GuidedTrack), with 14 applicants completing their final program. As mentioned above, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback on our micro grants program, and hope to run it again (ideally with additional funding) next year. 

We hope you gain some valuable insights and critical thinking skills from these programs; we’ll be highlighting a handful of our personal favourites in individual newsletters over the next few months!