What to think is the default, but how to think is what's going to get you ahead.

Today, we're talking about how billionaires think about things. And I know that sounds intimidating. You might even be thinking, "Well Jonas, I'm not even trying to be a billionaire. Is this even relevant?" I promise you, once I learned this, it simplified all the noise out there, all the chaos, and I was able to really just chill out, get more done, and get further ahead.

The Web of Chaos

This is like how most people think: it's a web of chaos. The average person in the US is exposed to over 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day. Every single one of those messages clutters up the noise of what you should do.

You're reading this newsletter, so I know you're into self-improvement. How confusing is it? You might be left thinking, "Do I need like 50 habits to really change my life, feel better? It's all over if I don't do this guy's 2-hour morning routine."

The average person also spends 7 to 9 hours on their phone every single day. The younger you are, the more time you spend, and it's nothing but other people's thoughts and opinions, and they're telling you what to think.

First Principles Thinking

So what's the solution?

When you exit the web of noise, you get to hear what we're talking about, and this is what billionaires use to change their life, to make billions of dollars, to change the world. It's called first principles thinking. Instead of going to your web of noise and thinking, "Okay, this person said this, this person said that," those things conflict and then you just get lost and scattered, you pass it through a filter of first principles.

Example: Elon Musk

The best example of this is Elon Musk. Now, Elon Musk had a goal. He wanted to go to Mars, but he looked at the cost of rockets. It was millions and millions of dollars; it was super expensive. So he's like, "Okay, that's what I want: the goal to go to Mars. Literally the biggest goal anyone can set, right? But rockets are really expensive."

Instead of asking himself the question, "How can I make rockets cheaper?" he asked himself the deeper question, "What are rockets made out of? What's the cost of those materials on their own?" His people did the math. You know what it was? It came out to 2% of what they were charging for a rocket. And that's how he founded SpaceX. That's why he built his own rockets. That's why he's transforming that whole industry, because it was too expensive. That was the problem. He didn’t go to the web of noise and say, "How can I network and partner with a company that builds rockets?" No, he's like, "Screw it, we're going to build our own SpaceX company and build the rockets at 2% of the cost."

Reasoning from Analogy

See, most people reason from analogy. This is compared to what? What is this like? A perfect example from your life is: have you ever met someone and they reminded you of a friend? Even though you know they weren’t your friend or someone you knew in the past, it triggered that part of you and you treated them as if they were that person because you’re like, "This person looks like this, so therefore they must be this." Or worse, someone's like, "Dude, you remind me just like my friend," and they show you a photo. They’re like, "You look just like him." You look at the photo and he’s missing three teeth, super unflattering, and has a mullet—business in front, party in the back.

We’ve all done this. Someone reminds you of another person, and the problem is we start treating them like that person or a situation reminds you of a situation you had in the past. You start handling this situation like you did in the past. This is reasoning from analogy, where we see things as we are, not for what they are. You want to go even deeper on this in relationships: how many fights are just projections of past fights you had with other people? Something triggers you, and now you’re not even fighting with that person; you’re fighting with your mom or you’re fighting with your ex or you’re fighting with the shadow part of you that you see in that person and don’t like.

Anytime you reason by "this is compared to this," you’re entering the web of noise and you’re pulling from your past experiences. The only thing you’re going to create out of that in the future is future experiences that remind you of your past. Your whole life becomes reasoning by analogy, "Well, I am this way because in my past I made this decision."

Another Example: Tesla

Another Elon Musk story: he famously started Tesla, and the main problem was that no one had built an electric car because the charging stations weren’t widely available. So he’s like, "Okay, no one has a successful electric car company because they magically disappear, right?" The founders of those companies Elon Musk was like, "No, it’s because the charging is hard to do." And so what he did is he open-sourced all the technology from Tesla saying, "Hey, let’s make electric cars widely available all over the world. Let’s build charging stations."

That’s the first principle: it’s not "Can we build an electric car?" It was "Can we make the charging more accessible to more people?"

Richard Branson: Virgin Airlines

Let me give you another example because I’m sounding like a Musk fanboy. Richard Branson, billionaire investor, started Virgin Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Magazine, Virgin Records—very prolific billionaire and entrepreneur. He has a funny story about starting Virgin Airlines. He was stranded on an island and they had closed all flights or his flight got cancelled. He didn’t like that. He’s like, "I got places to be. I’m running all these companies. This is unacceptable."

So he went up to the desk and he’s like, "Hey, how much to get a private jet? How much to charter one?" And they’re like, "Oh, it’s, let’s just say, 100 grand." He takes out a piece of paper and he writes, "Virgin Airlines ticket starting at $11,000." He starts walking around the airport. Everyone else’s flights are cancelled. It’s like a thousand bucks. Who wants to go? And he filled his first plane. That’s how he chartered it, and out of that, Virgin Airlines was born. His web of noise was, "All flights are cancelled. We’re stuck here. I’m going to spiral out of control." No, he’s like, "The first principle is how do I get a plane? How much does it cost? Can I sell that and fill that?"

He continued to use first principles throughout his career. He’s an entrepreneur but also an investor. And if you look at most investors, what is the first principle? It’s not making money; it’s not losing money. Yes, you take risks, but you have to hedge for your downsides because if you lose 50% of 100K, you’re down to 50K. You need to make a 100% gain to cover that downside. So back to our Virgin Airline story, he was expanding the company and wanted to do it full-time. So he went and negotiated a deal that said, "Hey, I want to buy all these planes from you. I just don’t want to pay if they don’t work out." So he somehow was able to negotiate that after a whole year, if he wasn’t successful, he could return the planes at cost and break even. So his first principle was minimizing downside, not losing money. And that’s how he built his airline company, one of the most competitive businesses to be in.

Applying First Principles to Your Life

My whole point in showing you this is not to replicate billionaires and what they did but it’s to inspire you that sometimes we just overcomplicate things. I want you to be asking, "Okay, if I’m getting sucked into the overthinking in the web of noise, what’s the first fundamental principle I need to not reason from analogy down? I need to build up from the ground floor up on."

So my fundamental first principle is: Is this useful to someone else? Is this useful to one person? Is the vibe there? Am I having fun with it? Is it valuable info of what I’m sharing that can help people?

Applying First Principles to Self-Improvement

So, is this making sense? Now let’s apply this. I want to give you two questions here. So the obvious application of all this is for any business owner out there: what’s your first principle of what you’re doing? But I want to apply this to more of a self-improvement angle because that’s what a majority of you, you know, maybe you aren’t in a business space, and that’s totally fine.

Purpose and Goals

What is your purpose? This is why it’s so important to have goals because it gives you the first principle of what you’re working towards, and you can keep going back on that. So if your purpose this year is to get the most energy you’ve ever had in your life, well then every day your first principle, if you get lost in the web, is to go back to what you want, which is weight loss, health, or hormone optimization.

Now don’t click off here because this is the most important part of this newsletter. You’re like, "Okay, great, purpose and why, great, next” Dig deep here. I want you to go to a coffee shop and really dig down to why you want what you want.

A good question is: if no one knew and I couldn’t get credit for what I was about to do, would I still do it?

So if literally no one knew you would become a millionaire or you would find the cure for cancer or you would, whatever your purpose is, and you couldn’t get credit for it, would you still be pursuing that? That is a gut punch in the stomach. It is amazing how many goals we’re going after that aren’t even ours. We’re like, "Okay, that’s my first principle," but it’s to prove something to my dad who didn’t believe in me or it’s to prove an ex wrong or it’s to get Instagram followers because I’m lacking validation for myself. And if I can get the validation from strangers, maybe that’ll prove to myself that I am worthy.

You see where I’m going with this? So like I’m not concerned about what your parents want, what society tells you to have, what social media is telling you. I’m more concerned about what you actually want. What’s a hell yes for you? If I couldn’t get credit and no one knew I achieved it, would I still go after _______?

Once the answer is yes, congratulations. You have found what you need to find your first principles on. And now everything in your life keeps going back to this: what’s the one thing I need to do to achieve that purpose?

Hope this was helpful. Give it a like and subscribe if you’re not. I’ll see you in the next one.

Cheers,

Jonas