If you have a question, “google it”!
It sounds simple, but what you can find out there, and the associated paradox of choice, can be pretty damaging!
Let me quickly share how I’m overcoming it to make better decisions.
Whatever your project or idea, you have almost limitless and free resources at your fingertips.
It can come extremely handy to find tips or the magic recipe to succeed in a specific topic.
But what turns you into a Cook doesn’t make you a Chef.
For complex situations and innovation, more often than not, these online sources contradict each other. It’s never been harder to discern what’s going to help you vs. what’s hurting or slowing you down.
As I started my entrepreneurial journey, I spent much time consulting “experts” and researching the best ways to kickstart my business.
But the more I consulted and researched, the more confusing the answers were.
I soon realized I was relying on what others thought with their specific context and experience. Their “universal” advice would not necessarily apply to my situation.
I felt stuck for a while. But then, I started to beat the paralysis by applying “first principles.”
In short, first principles help you stop thinking by analogy. Instead, you genuinely attempt to deconstruct how things work and how they uniquely apply to a situation at hand.
Philosophers like Aristotle introduced first principles. Centuries later, entrepreneurs apply them with success. Take Elon Musk’s Space-X, who had to completely rethink the way to build rockets without spending R&D to NASA’s “astronomic” levels.
When dealing with a complex situation or innovating, first principles help you avoid the “conventional wisdom” trap.
You don’t let others define the problem for you. You’re the one framing it.
As importantly, first principles get you unstuck. They help you go to the essential and into action mode with a simplified mental model.
So, the next time you have a potential solution to a complex situation, dig into why you think that way. Make sure you challenge your assumptions. Look for evidence, consider alternatives and their implications.
Based on first principles, such critical thinking will go a long way and help you get effectively into action.