Have you ever wanted to do something great, but realize at the same time you can never finish what you start? You have a multitude of ideas that you want to pursue. You might find yourself pursuing one thing, then comes another idea and before you know it, you’ve jumped into action. Before you know it, you find yourself overwhelmed and your innovation stifled. Adding one more thing will snuff out the last vestige of the motivation that kept you going. To accomplish what we want, we must be clear, and have the confidence to convince others that going back to the drawing board is a must. Before things get too tough, or even if they have already become difficult, a first-principles approach will help reframe your outlook.
Understand what is absolute
There are two ways that we reason: 1) via analogy and 2) via first principles. Most of our lives are spent in the realm of the former. When we reason by analogy, we are engaging in an activity because it is similar to what others are doing or is like something we’ve done in the past. We lean on the theory that past behavior is a predictor of future success. Often, we stick to what we know.
For example, you say that ‘we will never be able to execute on an initiative because every time we’ve attempted its pursuit in the past, it did not work out; therefore, we should not consider it now’. If you apply that same reasoning to anything else you’ve failed and then succeed at, you would have never accomplished anything in the first place. Using a first principles approach, you boil things down to its most fundamental elements. You identify principles that you know are absolute, and then you begin to reason up from there.
Find commonality to maximize efficiency.
The best time is not always when the idea hits. Take a look at the plethora of goals that you are already pursuing and see if you can draw a common theme throughout the list of current activities. Many times you will find the ones that are successful are the areas that have common themes. The activities of that area is complementary to one another and you can maximize efficiency over time. Those outliers are the ones that should be tabled…for now….no matter how glorious they appear in the moment. Focus on what you can achieve quickly.
Identify your most powerful resources.
If you are deploying a new initiative, you should first think, what are the core constituents of the project? At the onset, many things go undone because we get bogged down with cost, the amount of time it will take, the lack of resources, negative perceptions, and a whole host of other elements that may or may not be needed at some point in the future. The second thing you should ask is: how can I execute given what I have right now at my disposal. I’d be bold enough to say, you have mostly everything you need right now to launch. It might be hard at first and you might have to put in a little elbow grease, but wherever the focus goes, energy flows. As you move along, you will find opportunities become apparent. You will realize that there are resources that can you leverage from others, be it knowledge, physical support, or financial.
Strengthen your Awareness.
You have to develop the ability to see the big picture and the details at will. Have you ever been frantically looking for your keys only realize when you slowed down, took a breath, they were right on the floor in front of you? First principles ideology will have you first and foremost… calm down. Stress limits our ability to reason. From there we reason upwards. You recall that you have only looked at eye level. Therefore, you think ‘perhaps, I should look somewhere new’–while keeping in mind the most basis element “stay calm”. You would not want to rush off to another room to see if you left it there or begin calling the last store you were in. I’ve seen this time and time again when people become panicked. Stop. Think about the objective, the efforts already taken, and finally what new direction you can aim toward.
Focus on your Competitive Advantage.
As I mentioned earlier, you might have a thousand ideas, but the best time is not always now. We typically jump around because we have fear of competition. Which is at its core, a fear of insecurity. Often we psyche ourselves into believing we have to be the first to do a certain thing, but that is not always necessary. Early adopters bear the highest risk. If that risk is not what you can afford to bear with your time and resources, set the intention and wait until a more opportune time. If someone else “takes” your idea out of the cosmic space…..it. will. be. ok. There are probably thousands of people around the world working on the same idea. My philosophy is there is nothing new under the sun. Only iterations. Given some time, you might find that you may not have to think about the elements of building from scratch, but take ideas that are working and add your own mark to them. You might even be able to form a partnership. Every company and person has their own competitive advantage. Understand that you may be much more effective at the delivering, coalition building, or bringing awareness to a thing in lieu of engineering it. Ask yourself, how can you bring your best self to the given situation.
Main Point….
Taking a first principles approach to life will help you to remain focused, prioritize better, and become much more effective as a global citizen. It is a logical reasoning framework that can be applied to your career as well as your personal life. Once you master it, you can teach others the skill you have developed, so they too can become much more effective.
