Stop thinking like a fucking NPC. The problem with our education system is we aren’t ever truly taught how to think or do anything, so people generally grow up figuring it out on their own or just never really learn how to excel.
It’s not your fault you don’t know how to think. It’s not about book smarts or street smarts. There’s an actual science and framework with executable actions that allow you to think better and more effectively. Today we’re going to talk about two concepts: First Principles Thinking and Elon Musk's Algorithm.
Why is it important to think better? Imagine it like an XP skill boost in a video game. If you can figure out how to think better, you’re upgrading your brain to operate faster, more efficiently, and get more done in less time. It’s like accelerating from 10 mph to 12 mph—doesn't seem like much at first, but over time, that small difference adds up exponentially. You cover way more ground. Thinking better isn’t just about feeling smarter; it’s about compounding those small improvements into massive gains. The winners aren’t just winning by luck—they’re using frameworks and tools that give them that edge, and thinking better is the ultimate skill multiplier.
Why Thinking Better Matters: A Visual Look
To illustrate this point, let’s look at a simple graph showing the impact of incremental improvements over time. Imagine two lines on a chart: one representing a person improving their thinking efficiency by 1% each day, and the other line being a person stagnating with no growth. Over a year, that 1% daily improvement compounds to make you 37 times better than when you started. It's exponential growth versus staying flat. Small, consistent upgrades add up to massive advantages.
Elon Musk’s five-step algorithm for problem-solving is a framework that strips things down to the core—no fluff, no extra noise, just the fundamentals.
Here’s how it works:
Question Every Requirement
Question everything. Every requirement, every assumption, every idea that’s been handed to you—ask where it came from and why it’s even there. Most people just accept what’s in front of them without challenging it. Guess what? A lot of those requirements are just dead weight. They’re relics of outdated thinking. Musk says, “Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous.” Why? Because you’re less likely to question them. So, no matter who it came from, tear it apart and decide if it makes sense. Spoiler: Most of it won’t.
Delete Anything You Can
Stop trying to optimize garbage. Delete it first. Get rid of anything that doesn’t add value. Delete until you’re uncomfortable, until you’re second-guessing if you’ve gone too far. That’s where the magic is. If you don’t end up adding back at least 10% later, you didn’t delete enough in the first place. Think of it like clearing out junk from your garage—don’t reorganize the clutter, throw it out.
Simplify and Optimize
Once you’ve deleted all the junk, then you simplify. Don’t make the rookie mistake of optimizing things that shouldn’t even exist. Simplify what’s left, strip it down to the basics, and then optimize. Get rid of anything that’s unnecessary and double down on what’s essential. Simplification is underrated because it forces you to confront what actually matters.
Accelerate Cycle Time
Speed matters. Once you’ve cleaned house, make it faster. Iteration speed is everything—faster cycles mean faster feedback, which means faster growth. But here’s the catch: Don’t even think about accelerating anything until you’ve deleted the fluff and simplified what’s left. Otherwise, you’re just making a bad process faster. Musk learned this the hard way, spending time and money speeding up processes in the Tesla factory that shouldn’t have existed at all. Don’t make that mistake.
Automate
Now, and only now, do you automate. Automation is powerful, but only when it’s applied to something that’s already been optimized and simplified. Automate garbage, and you just make garbage faster. But when you’ve stripped things down to their essentials, then automation becomes a force multiplier. That’s how you scale.
A Simple Diagram: Elon’s Five-Step Process
To make this more digestible, here’s a simple flowchart representing Elon’s algorithm for problem-solving:
This is how you take your thinking from NPC mode to main character mode. AI got good by studying how humans learn—now it’s your turn to take a page out of AI’s book. Strip it down, learn from data, iterate faster, and optimize relentlessly. That’s how you catch up.
The Upgrade: Think Like AI, Solve Like Elon
The real secret here is First Principles Thinking. AI is built by using fundamental truths and building up from there. Elon Musk, Aristotle, even Lex Fridman—they all talk about first principles for a reason. First Principles Thinking means breaking things down to the raw, fundamental truths and building from scratch.
Most of you are out here using analogies. You’re trying to solve problems by repeating what worked for someone else or copying old formulas. That’s NPC behavior. Instead, you need to break every problem down to its core components. Ask the uncomfortable questions. Challenge every assumption until you’re left with the undeniable facts. That’s where you start.
You need to learn how to learn. That’s the real hack. Growth Mindset, Metacognition, First Principles, Problem Solving Frameworks—these are the keys. Not once did school teach me this, and that’s the real tragedy. I had to learn it on my own, and the difference it made was exponential. When you learn to break things down, question everything, delete the unnecessary, and build back only what matters, you’re basically giving yourself an infinite XP booster. That’s why the rich get richer, the smart get smarter, and the winners keep winning.
Stop Thinking Like an NPC
The world is moving at lightning speed. AI is sprinting forward while most people are still crawling. You need to re-engineer your thinking if you want to keep up. Challenge every assumption, delete everything unnecessary, simplify, speed up, and automate what’s left. The time for following scripts is over. The time for First Principles and Elon’s Algorithm is here.