“Physics teaches you to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. So I said, okay, let’s look at the first principles. What is a rocket made of? Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber. Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market? It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical price.”

A first principle is a basic assumption that cannot be deduced any further. 

...is a foundational proposition or assumption that stands alone. We cannot deduce first principles from any other proposition or assumption.

Reasoning by first principles removes the impurity of assumptions and conventions. What remains is the essentials. 

If we never learn to take something apart, test the assumptions, and reconstruct it, we end up trapped in what other people tell us.

We remain trapped in the way things have always been done. When the environment changes, we just continue as if things were the same.

• First principles thinking: actively questioning every assumption you think you know about a given problem or scenario  and then creating new knowledge and solutions from scratch. 
• Reasoning by analogy: building knowledge and solving problems based on prior assumptions, beliefs and widely held ‘best practices’ approved by majority of people.

1. Identify and define your current assumptions;
2. Breakdown the problem into its fundamental principles;
3. Create new solutions from scratch.

• Allows for a more personal, customized mode of thinking and application.
• A key to doing any sort of systemic inquiry.
• Even though it does take far more mental energy to work in this mode, the results can be quite staggering.
• A new and innovative way of thinking.

Identify the Problem

What is something that I want to change in my life?

Deconstruct the Problem

What are the causes of my problems? How does it affect my life?

Solve the Problem

Start creating your new framework. You could think of multiple ways to achieve your goals easily.

Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot encourages everybody to tell their story.  Stories help Poirot comprehend what kind of person the victim was. And to uncover the murderer’ motive.

Storytelling is powerful to uncover insights, not just the truth. Design Thinking — a process for creative problem solving — leverages the power of stories to detect human desires and needs.

Sarah Linden is the least self-aware television detective.

Her dedication to her work and stubbornness are unbeatable. She never gives up. Even though she fails in many aspects of her life — like being a mother. But, she keeps showing up and trying to do better. She tries again, fails again, and fails better.

• It brings team members' diverse experience into play. It increases the richness of ideas explored, which means that you can often find better solutions.
• It can help you get buy-in from team members for the solution chosen – after all, they're likely to be more committed to an approach if they were involved in developing it. 
• It helps team members bond, as they solve problems in a positive, rewarding environment.

• groups aren't always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad behaviors creep in. 
• people pay so much attention to other people that they don't generate ideas of their own – or they forget these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. 

On your own, you don't have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and you can be freer and more creative.

Detectives and investigators use the process. They ask both obvious and unthinkable questions.

Get close and collect information about how the problem is manifesting.  Understand where the problem does and doesn’t happen, when the problem started, and how often the problem occurs to generate critical insight for the problem-solving effort.

• Don’t look for solutions immediately; Keep redefining the problem until you arrive at the root cause.
• Don’t try to guess the solution; try to understand how the obstacles, or challenges manifest first.
• Gather data to analyze all potential root causes.
• Consider all options, regardless of how irrelevant they currently appear.
• Find a way to connect the dots. Make better analogies. One good analogy is worth three hours of discussion.

After conquering their challenges characters are “reborn” with greater knowledge and power than before. They teamed up with friends to save others, and in the process saved themselves.

What this means for you: Take stock of what you accomplished. Enjoy it.

After all the lessons learned in the journey, characters can finally face their challenges. But sometimes even all the preparations aren’t enough and someone they help earlier in their journey unexpectedly comes to save the day.

What it means for you: Never pass up an opportunity to help someone else. You never know when they will return the favor.

You can’t please everybody that you meet in life.

Critics are not all bad. You can learn things about yourself from them too. The solution is to learn from criticism, not be afraid of it.

See career challenges for what they are: an opportunity to try something different. 

If your career never got messed up, then you’d probably stay in your comfort-zone for your entire life and never try something different.