Thinking method
Return to facts, constraints, mechanisms, and goals before accepting popular answers or inherited conclusions.
Many bad decisions come from accepting the wrong question. First-principles thinking starts with boundaries and assumptions.
Stable judgment comes from understanding mechanisms: incentives, constraints, feedback, and path dependence.
The method becomes valuable when problem definition, evidence quality, and action verification become habits.
A topic hub for Yong Zheng's writing on first-principles thinking, independent thinking, systems thinking, problem decomposition, and judgment.
First-principles thinking is not about sounding profound. It is about finding the basic facts that cannot be decomposed further.
Read articleLife is not a sprint defined by effort alone. It is an infinite game shaped by choice, effort, and time. When the direction is wrong, running harder becomes a disaster.
Read articleA practical note on first principles not but method from a first-principles and long-term perspective.
Read articleA practical note on before finding answers ask whether the question is valid from a first-principles and long-term perspective.
Read articleA practical note on first principles systems thinking from a first-principles and long-term perspective.
Read articleA practical note on how train problem from a first-principles and long-term perspective.
Read articleCore topic
Life Operating System
A practical framework for aligning values, decisions, capabilities, relationships, health, wealth, and review loops.
Growth capability
Lifelong Learning
Turn reading, writing, practice, review, and AI tools into a learning system that compounds into capability.
Organization study
Company Culture
Understand culture through products, incentives, talent density, organizational learning, and long-term strategy.
Education and growth
Family Education
Connect parent-child relationships, learning systems, reality sense, emotion, and long-term capability beyond grades.
