Propositions I–XII · 5 parts
Why think
Answers are cheap now. Your first thought is not. Here we practise keeping it, from the ground up, together.
Twelve propositions in five parts. Each screen has one thing to try.
Part I
The problem and the aim
I–IIII. Thinking must not become a commodity.
Answers are cheap now. A deeper question is not.
When did you last work something out before you asked?
II. Understanding is the goal, not the answer.
Borrowed knowledge stops when the pipe stops. Understanding you rebuild keeps running.
Say you wake up tired every Monday. A second coffee hides it. What does asking why find?
Show the working
Sunday bedtime slides two hours later than the rest of the week. Asking why finds the bedtime. The coffee was never the cause.
What is first-principles thinking?
From the claim down to bedrockFirst principles
What is first-principles thinking?
Set borrowed conclusions aside. Keep only what you checked yourself.
Scroll to dig down, one move at a time.
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Move 1
Name the claim
What exactly is being said?
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Move 2
Find the assumption
What must be true for this to hold?
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Move 3
Ask why until it stops
Why is that so? Then why is that?
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Move 4
Rebuild from what is certain
What do I know for sure? What follows?
III. Learn for the joy of it.
Curiosity without a grade keeps the mind alive. Study to understand, not to be praised.
Part II
The discipline
IV–VIIV. Say it precisely.
Fast hides. 70 mph can be checked. State the claim first, then the reasons.
Take something you said today. Make it precise.
- Number
- Unit
- Boundary
- I drove fast. I drove at 70 mph in a 55 zone.
- I want to save more. I want 6,000 dollars saved by 30 June next year.
- The project is running late. Go-live moved from 15 March to 29 March – 14 days late.
- My bill is too high. My July bill was 212 dollars against 148 in June – up 64.
- I barely slept. I slept 5 hours last night. I need 7.
- I want to be healthier. I want to walk 8,000 steps a day by 1 March, up from 5,000.
V. Argue with the strongest case against you.
Answer the best objection, not the weakest. A claim that survives it is worth holding.
VI. Predict first. Then test what breaks.
A match found after the fact proves nothing. Say what would prove you wrong.
A new bedtime routine is said to add an hour of sleep. Which result would prove that wrong?
Part III
The practice
VII–VIIIVII. Neural muscles grow with reps.
No one gets strong by watching a forklift lift weights. Keep one small promise daily, at a fixed time.
Estimate in your head: how many seconds are in a day?
Show the working
60 × 60 = 3,600 seconds an hour. 3,600 × 24 = 86,400 seconds a day. That was one rep.
VIII. What we practise shapes our intent.
Every tool trains something in you. Choose what your attention practises.
What did your tools train in you this week?
Part IV
The character
IX–XIX. "I do not know" is a full answer.
Say it. Then go and find out. Be willing to be argued out of a view.
X. Stay grounded and grateful.
A strong feeling often wears the clothes of a fact. Name it first. Then name one thing you are grateful for.
Part V
Together and onward
XI–XIIXI. Think together, in small circles.
Care that it gets solved, not who solved it. Learn with guides, then guide others.
Which community room would you start in?
XII. We keep chasing and finding happiness.
Wanting starts the search. There is no final summit. The joy is on the path, lantern in hand, still asking.
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No system brings thinking back. People do, one question at a time. Bring yours.
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