Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on First Principles Thinking:
It means "boiling things down to the most fundamental truths and then reasoning up from there."
Elon Musk is a big believer in First Principles Thinking.
Not just Musk — Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and Feynman too.
Here's what it is, how to use it, and become better at it:
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on First Principles Thinking:
It means "boiling things down to the most fundamental truths and then reasoning up from there."
God — this reminds me of high school chemistry when we first learnt about Atoms.
But that's what they're like! The basic foundations.
Here are 2 techniques to use First Principles Thinking:
This is simple. Keep asking why.
Already asked why? Ask again.
Continuously ask why things are the way they are.
It'll help you discover the root causes of problems (hence helping you solve them).
You know what — Children are great at this...
They keep asking why (almost to the point that it gets annoying).
Their curiosity enables them to think from first principles.
As we get older, we lose this child-like curiosity to keep asking why.
You don't have to stop after 5 why's but it's usually enough to get to the fundamental truth.
The second technique for First Principles Thinking is Socratic Questioning.
6 types of questions you can ask to dig deeper in search of the first principle (via https://t.co/HR9sOSzW5C):
Resist proxies. Don’t mindlessly follow processes, or unquestioningly accept survey data. That is reasoning by analogy. Go out and discover fundamental truths — focus on outcomes, and real customer feedback.
True innovation comes from discovering an important, fundamental truth that few people agree with you on — a secret. First principles thinking helps you discover secrets to achieve vertical progress (0 to 1).
Do your own homework. To truly use first principles, don’t rely on experts or previous work. Approach new problems with the mindset of a novice. Truly understand the fundamental data, assumptions and reasoning yourself. Be curious.
I love it because it's simply about being curious and inquisitive about things you're genuinely interested in.
Don't shy away from asking questions.
Also — drop a follow for more!
More from Aadit Sheth
Lie: School sets you up for the real world.
If you want to win at life, you need to learn to figure it out.
How to figure anything out:
Accept that you don't know it all:
First, normalize not knowing everything. It's okay.
The ones that know a lot continue to ask questions.
Speak less. Ask more.
Curiosity wins:
Be ready to be a student again. Know that it never stops — lifelong learning.
The universe appreciates genuine curiosity.
Friends, the internet & communities will give you what you want if show genuine interest.
Be positive-sum — want others to win:
The more you give, the more you get.
If people around you are winning, you will win (at some point).
Surround yourself with winners and help them win big.
Use Youtube:
The greatest search engine of all time
You can literally learn anything for free if you:
• Are curious enough
• Show up every day
Here are some of the best places to
If you want to win at life, you need to learn to figure it out.
How to figure anything out:
Accept that you don't know it all:
First, normalize not knowing everything. It's okay.
The ones that know a lot continue to ask questions.
Speak less. Ask more.
Curiosity wins:
Be ready to be a student again. Know that it never stops — lifelong learning.
The universe appreciates genuine curiosity.
Friends, the internet & communities will give you what you want if show genuine interest.
Be positive-sum — want others to win:
The more you give, the more you get.
If people around you are winning, you will win (at some point).
Surround yourself with winners and help them win big.
Use Youtube:
The greatest search engine of all time
You can literally learn anything for free if you:
• Are curious enough
• Show up every day
Here are some of the best places to
I asked, \u201cWhat are the best YouTube channels for learning (any subject welcome)?"
— Brian Feroldi (@BrianFeroldi) August 7, 2021
I received 259 AMAZING responses
Here are 20 top channels that will make you smarter:
How to accelerate your career, save 60 hrs/week, and lead better.
🧵 My 10 favorite tweets of the week (that you may have missed):
How to save 60 hrs/week of work (by
Why kids should play more video games (by
A 4-step writing process (by
26 incredible internet finds (by
🧵 My 10 favorite tweets of the week (that you may have missed):
How to save 60 hrs/week of work (by
People ask how I\u2019m so productive.
— Ryan Breslow \U0001f57a (@theryanking) January 22, 2022
The secret: productivity is a process of REMOVAL.
Time is such an easy thing to waste...
Here\u2019s what you can remove from your life to save up to 60 hrs/week \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447
Why kids should play more video games (by
Over 70% of kids play video games every day.
— Ana Lorena Fabrega (@anafabrega11) January 28, 2022
Everyone thinks they should play less\u2026
\u2026but here\u2019s an interesting case for why they should play MORE \U0001f3ae\U0001f447\U0001f3fc
A 4-step writing process (by
I made $0 online in 2019.
— Justin Welsh (@JustinSaaS) January 26, 2022
3 years later:
- 100M+ impressions
- $1.7M in online income
- 4 successful revenue streams
What changed?
I started writing online every day.
Here's my simple 4-step process.
[Short \U0001f9f5]
26 incredible internet finds (by
If you're looking in the right places, the internet is a treasure trove.
— Steph Smith (@stephsmithio) January 23, 2022
The best internet gems you've never heard of:
A Marketing degree costs $80k.
But, Twitter University teaches better for free.
🧵 Here are 10 threads from 10 world-class marketers:
What you learn: Effective marketing patterns.
From: @Julian, Founder at Demand
What you learn: Tactics to get lucky with marketing.
From: @gregisenberg, CEO at Late
What you learn: Great copywriting.
From: @heykahn, VP Marketing at
What you learn: How to build landing pages that convert.
From: @heyblake, Chief Marketing Office at
But, Twitter University teaches better for free.
🧵 Here are 10 threads from 10 world-class marketers:
What you learn: Effective marketing patterns.
From: @Julian, Founder at Demand
I've helped probably 700 startups redo their websites.
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) February 26, 2021
These 4 marketing patterns stood out to me \U0001f9d9\u200d\u2642\ufe0f
What you learn: Tactics to get lucky with marketing.
From: @gregisenberg, CEO at Late
Marketing isn\u2019t a scam
— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) June 19, 2021
Marketing makes change happen. Marketing makes your creations known
I'll share some tactics & frameworks I use
How to get lucky in marketing in 2021:
What you learn: Great copywriting.
From: @heykahn, VP Marketing at
Apple, Nike, Coca Cola.
— Zain Kahn (@heykahn) September 7, 2021
3 legendary companies. 1 common marketing trait:
Great copywriting.
Here are 10 copywriting tips to help you master marketing:
What you learn: How to build landing pages that convert.
From: @heyblake, Chief Marketing Office at
I\u2019ve audited 500+ websites over the past 6 years.
— Blake Emal (@heyblake) May 4, 2021
Here are 17 learnings to help your landing page convert:
You May Also Like
1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?
A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:
Next level tactic when closing a sale, candidate, or investment:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) February 27, 2018
Ask: \u201cWhat needs to be true for you to be all in?\u201d
You'll usually get an explicit answer that you might not get otherwise. It also holds them accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to
- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal
3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:
Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.
Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.
4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?
To get clarity.
You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.
It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.
5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”
Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.
