The ‘why’ game is astounding in that it quickly highlights the things that you do and don’t know about everyday systems. I’ve just tried it with myself and it quickly revealed truths that I thought were solidified in understanding but that were in fact, merely analogies and ‘hand me down’ understanding.
For most of us, we've relied heavily on analogies to understand our world so working with first principles thinking moving forward will be daunting. But I believe the rewards far exceed whatever time and effort will be spent rewiring our thinking process.
First-principles thinking clears the clutter of what we’ve told ourselves and allows us to rebuild from the ground up. Sure, it’s a lot of work, but that’s why so few people are willing to do it. It’s also why the rewards for filling the chasm between possible and incremental improvement tend to be non-linear.
The ‘why’ game is astounding in that it quickly highlights the things that you do and don’t know about everyday systems. I’ve just tried it with myself and it quickly revealed truths that I thought were solidified in understanding but that were in fact, merely analogies and ‘hand me down’ understanding.
For most of us, we've relied heavily on analogies to understand our world so working with first principles thinking moving forward will be daunting. But I believe the rewards far exceed whatever time and effort will be spent rewiring our thinking process.