So when you hear first principle thinking, what comes to your mind?
Thinking in principles?
And what principles are we talking about?
Let me give you this analogy. You are in school, and you have an exam in the next two weeks for which you are required to read a book that contains 140 pages.
…that's too much, I understand that.
What are you going to do?
As a student who knows first principle thinking, what comes to mind first is, "This is 140 pages, and I have to finish that by the next two weeks." But instead of panicking, you break it down.
Two weeks is 14 days. 140 divided by 14 is 10.
Now what are you going to do?
Read 10 pages a day. We have 24 hours in every day, and assuming you use 10 hours to read, that means you will read 1 page every hour, which is way possible for every student to do.
By reading 1 page each hour, 10 pages a day, by the 14th day you would be done with all the pages before your exam.
Anytime you come across a huge task, know that it is doable. But when you see the bigger picture and focus highly on it, it is going to be intimidating.
What you need to do is take your time, break it down by asking questions to get you to understand it, and find good solutions. That is first principle thinking — always breaking things down to their core.
An ancient African way of life
Now here's something powerful most people don't realize: first principles thinking isn't some modern Silicon Valley idea.
It's an ancient African way of life that our ancestors intuitively used to solve massive, seemingly impossible problems — whether it was building the pyramids, cultivating large farmlands, or organising community projects.
Ndomua, weeding together
Ndomua is a local term used in the agricultural sector in Ghana, and most other African countries use it too, because this is ancient knowledge.
What our great-grandparents did was this: families would come together. Each family had its own land to work within the year, but three, four, five families would decide to work together.
Each family would bring their own children, wives, everyone.
They would start working on one family's project. Let's say three people have five acres, ten acres and fifteen acres. They'd all work together on the five acres first. Then move to the ten acres. Then to the fifteen acres. Because of the number of people, and because the work was broken down and tackled, it became easier for them.
Then they start planting. Then they do the harvesting.
Everyone takes their own share, and it makes things easier for them. That's first principle thinking.
Divide and conquer. Break it down. Move task by task. Work through it systematically.
These are things we have to know. And that's why it is always important to learn about the history of Africa. When you learn about ancient history, the history beyond colonisation, you get to learn this kind of ancient knowledge we never had in our schools.
These were the skills they used to make great things in ancient Egypt (Kemet), and in ancient Africa (Alkebulan) entirely.
Read RESET by Mr. Obeng Darko. It will open you up to many avenues to start your research journey on the history of Africa (Alkebulan).
A mental exercise for you
You want to start a fruit juice business in your town, but you do not have capital. Using first principles thinking:
What's the core truth?
- People like fresh, affordable juice.
- To make the juice we need fruits.
- A way to extract juice.
- And a way to serve or package it.
Break it down:
- Can you start with fruits from a local farm or market on credit or barter?
- Do you need an expensive juicer, or can you start with manual tools?
- Can you serve it in cups before moving to bottled packaging?
- Can you sell at community events or roadside before getting a shop?
That's first principles thinking. It is one key in business, life and community development.
So think of a problem today. Write it down and ask questions like: How do I do…? How am I going to…?
And by asking the questions, you will find solutions to the problems, and get it done.