Elon Musk First Principles
Why Elon Musk wants his employees to use an ancient mental strategy called ‘first principles’
Elon Musk is clamping down on spending at Tesla and, to do this, he’s drawing on an ancient philosophy called “first principles.”
The term was coined more than 2,000 years ago by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who believed we learn more by understanding a subject’s fundamental principles, those “things better known and clearer to us,” according to Terence Irwin’s 1989 book “Aristotle’s First Principles.”
Although it “takes a lot more mental energy,” Musk said this method of thinking has helped him revolutionize the energy industry.
