# First-Principles Thinking  ## Metadata - Author: [[Lenny Rachitsky]] - Full Title: First-Principles Thinking - Category: #articles - Summary: First-principles thinking is a technique for problem-solving that involves questioning assumptions and figuring out what is truly possible. It requires going directly to the source, challenging beliefs, and doing the hard work of finding out facts on the ground. This approach has been used by successful individuals and companies, such as SpaceX, Tesla, and Stripe, to achieve breakthroughs and innovative solutions. Applying first-principles thinking takes effort and can be difficult, but it allows for originality and avoids being constrained by existing models. Examples from tech startups demonstrate how this approach has been applied in practice to solve problems and drive success. - URL: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/first-principles-thinking?r=4b5bd&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post ## Highlights - “**I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.**” —Albert Einstein ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9c89zz5nba4j40cyfnbgm)) - “**The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.**” —Stephen Hawking ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9cajbz7x986ns5rqnb6nk)) - “**Every sentence I utter must be understood not as an affirmation, but as a question.**” —Niels Bohr ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9cfb7q4yhw0zh9v0733ph)) - “**To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.**” —Isaac Newton ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9cnrf76p3b92bz8m0cw59)) - “**I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.**” —Richard Feynman ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9d27ynzjg3fapv1kgvcjx)) - “**The task is not so much to see what no one has yet seen, but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.**” —Erwin Schrödinger ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hjm9d722yq7fvq2ts5d4akc1))