First Principles
Find the truths nothing else rests on, then build up from them alone.
Best for a Challenge, a Decision, a Problem, a Goal · Aristotle, fourth century BC · takes an hour, done properly
How to run it
- Describe the situation with enough detail to tell your actual constraints from your assumptions. Say what you know is true and what you believe is true.
- Surface the assumptions. One sentence each. For each, say where it comes from: convention, imitation, precedent, fear, or an unexamined default. Then judge how much weight it carries: if it were false, would the problem change shape?
- Strip them away. What remains that is true regardless? Test each candidate three ways: still true if everyone else doing this vanished tomorrow; still true if you had never tried anything before; sayable without "that’s how it’s done". Aim for three to seven that pass all three.
- Rebuild from those alone, three ways, as if no prior approach existed. One optimised for speed, one for the biggest long-term result, one for simplicity. For each, write the chain from principle to action.
- Find the high-leverage move: the one action first principles makes visible that conventional thinking hides. Say why it was hidden, and name the first concrete step.
- If no single move dominates, write down the runner-up and the trade-off, and choose anyway.
Where it falls down. It is slow, and it is easy to mistake a strongly held belief for a first principle.
With a pen
The situationWhat you know is true, and what you believe is true
Phase 1: the assumptionsOne sentence each. Where from: convention, imitation, precedent, fear, default. Load-bearing?
Phase 2: what survivesThree tests: true if everyone else vanished / true if you’d never tried / sayable without 'that’s how it’s done'
A: speedChain from principle to action
B: impact
C: simplicity
Phase 4: the high-leverage moveWhy conventional thinking hides it. The first concrete step