Chunking

Chunking compresses multiple pieces of information into a single cognitive unit, expanding the effective capacity of working memory. George Miller's research showed working memory holds roughly seven items — but a "chunk" counts as one item regardless of the information packed inside it. A chess grandmaster sees board positions as chunks of strategic patterns, not individual pieces. A skilled reader chunks letters into words and words into phrases. For founders, chunking is the mechanism behind expertise itself: the more you chunk domain knowledge, the faster you process new information in that domain. Mastery is not about holding more in memory — it's about compressing more into each unit.

When learning a new domain, deliberately group related concepts into named patterns. Give each chunk a label. Practice recognizing the chunk as a unit rather than decomposing it into parts each time. Use spaced repetition to cement chunks, and interleaving to ensure you can retrieve the right chunk in varied contexts.

Chunking compresses multiple pieces of information into single cognitive units, expanding effective working memory. Expertise is built on high-quality chunks — not on holding more, but on compressing better.