first principles

Rebuild your business from scratch using a blank slate mindset

Stop obsessing over the goal and become obsessed with whatever is defending you from it.

Robotics doesn't need a new model — it needs a three-source data engine: internet-scale + simulation + real-robot.

Build mental bedrock from first principles to evaluate any idea independently

Win converts to controversial ideas by building an airtight case without ever stating your conclusion

Separate the outcome you actually want from the inherited mechanism you assume delivers it, then pick the lightest fit.

Pension contributions deliver a day-one return no other asset class can match.

Build a lattice of cross-disciplinary mental models to reduce blind spots and make better decisions

Challenge accepted wisdom by testing assumptions yourself and exploiting discovered edges

Break rules by enjoying them or by being oblivious to them

If you cannot explain it five different ways in simple language, you do not actually understand it

Reason from first principles like a chef instead of following recipes like a cook

Reason up from fundamental truths rather than reasoning by analogy to convention

What you practice matters more than how much you practice

Boil things down to fundamental truths, then reason up from there

Drop packaged beliefs and tribal affiliations to see reality and make decisions from first princi...

In an age of leverage, one correct decision is worth more than a thousand hours of effort

The expertise that made you successful last time will make you fail next time

Build your company around a truth that others have not yet discovered

Start from physics—can the fundamental sensor do the job alone? If yes, delete the crutches

Musk's five-step production optimization mantra that he repeats at every meeting