elon musk has built companies worth over $800 billion
and he credits his success to first principles thinking
here's his framework for coming up with new ideas:
first — what is first principles thinking?
it's a way of approaching problem solving used at many of the most successful tech companies
it says to base your ideas on undeniable truths you've identified
a first principle is the answer to the question "what do we know for sure?"
why it matters:
first principles thinking keeps you focused on what you know
and lets you make quick decisions
without it:
1. you can only accidentally stumble onto good ideas
2. you end up making small tweaks to existing ideas
it's the most efficient path to an original idea
in a 2012 interview, elon shared his 3 step framework:
1. identify assumptions
2. break the problem down into fundamental components
3. iterate towards original ideas
let's break it down
identify assumptions:
elon says that "most people accept that something is not going to be much better in the future"
these assumptions tend to be the biggest opportunities to innovate
identify the underlying problem that causes people to believe the assumption
break the problem down to fundamental components:
you'll need to ask the right questions, which means you need deep knowledge of the problem
keep asking "why?" until you hear "because" as the only answer
elon says this stage can even take years for some problems
iterate towards original ideas:
once you hear "because" you can start thinking of new solutions
you'll be wrong (a lot) but:
1. keep track of your learnings
2. build on your first principles
3. iterate quickly
elon says that "good ideas are always crazy until they're not"
first principles thinking is the fastest way to generate unique ideas
i go deeper on this in my newsletter this week
houck.news/p/first-principles
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elon's 3 step framework for using first principles thinking:
1. identify existing assumptions
2. break the problem down into fundamental components
3. iterate towards an original solution