How to Practice First Principles Thinking (3 Steps of Elon Musk’s Thinking Method Revealed)
Today we’re going to talk about First Principles Thinking. And if you understand this key concept, you’re going to have an unfair advantage when it comes to solving ANY problem. May it be about your work, business, health, anything.
And if you read towards the end, you’ll see exactly why renowned thinkers whether it be Aristotle or Elon Musk who adopted this thinking method will have a huge and unfair advantage when it comes to solving problems.
Whereas those who don’t do this is going to seriously lose out.
What is a first principle?
Think of a lego house. This lego house didn’t exist as a lego house to begin with. It was built from lego blocks. It took simple lego pieces to build this seemingly complicated lego house.
When you think about first principle, it’s those lego blocks. It’s the most basic, purest, simplest, most fundamental and indivisible component of a certain situation, statement, or thing (lego house).
How can you know if a statement is a first principle?
To understand this, I made a little diagram for you. This pretty much summarizes how you can know if a statement is a first principle or not. Apply this concept with me by investigating this statement:
I want more money.
So yes, you can use this guide to investigate if a statement is really true or not.
What is First Principles Thinking?
To have a good grasp of this, 2 words: “Never assume.”
It’s the only thing you need to remember if you want to leverage this thinking method when solving any problem.
Imagine building up your solution based on wrong assumptions. This will lead to misunderstanding and you will be misled to an unsound solution. (i.e. following fad diets without really understanding why they work for others)
Applying this idea of understanding the underlying concepts and principles (a.k.a. First Principles) first, we can reason up from there and create our own solutions.
Using the statement “I want more money.” we had earlier figured out a first principle. It’s “I feel free when I travel.” and from there we can deduce that what I really want is freedom and not more money. It’s got to deeper than that right?
Applying it to solve small problems
Now, I want you to experience this firsthand so we’re going to have practice problems wherein you’ll learn the exact 3 steps of first principle thinking method.
In 1990, a person is 15 years old.
In 1995, that same person is 10 years old.
How can this be?
Step #1 Identify and define your current assumptions.
Okay so the first thing that comes to mind is if a person was 15 years old in 1990, then that same person should be 5 years older in 1995. That is our current assumption.
Step #2 Breakdown the problem into its fundamental principles.
Next step is to question our assumptions. The problem is asking us how can a person be of age 10yrs old in 1990 and 15yrs old in 1995. We could say,
“Is the person aging backwards?”
Probably not (unless you’re Benjamin Button)
“1995 is earlier than 1990?”
Well, you know that’s actually possible… if it’s B.C. (Before Christ)
Now we have our first principle, 1995 is earlier than 1990 if it’s B.C.
Step #3 Create new solutions from scratch.
Using the fundamental principle we extracted from Step #2. We can now devise the solution based on it.
The person was born in 2005 B.C. Thus making him 10yrs old in 1995 B.C. and 15yrs old in 1990 B.C.
Problem solved!
Applying it to big problems
There’s another riddle I tackled in the YouTube content I made here. It would be a great practice to grasp the picture we’re painting here.
Now, let’s talk about how Elon Musk has applied this thinking method into solving world’s problems. He had this dream of making space travel for everyone. One big roadblock is that spaceship battery packs are expensive.
Step #1 Identify and define your current assumptions.
This is what everyone assumes surrounding the topic of spaceship battery packs. It feels like they have been expensive to begin with.
Step #2 Breakdown the problem into its fundamental principles.
Elon has questioned that assumption and broke it down to its fundamental principles. For instance, what makes the battery packs expensive? Are they really expensive? What makes up the battery packs that make them expensive?
It turns out that battery packs are made from cobalt, nickel, aluminum, carbon, polymers and seal can. We’ll find out how this fundamental principle solved his roadblock.
Step #3 Create new solutions from scratch.
You know what if he’s to buy the materials that make up the battery, it would be way way cheaper. Specifically,
“If we bought that on the London Metal Exchange,
what would each of those things cost?”
It’s like $80 per kilowatt hour.
Reduced by 50% from the assumption of $600 per kilowatt hour.
And SpaceX was born!
I hope you enjoyed this content as I enjoyed making it for you! Make sure you let me know in the comments below what your biggest takeaway was.
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