Different from the basic principle is comparative thinking.
Life is such a thing, isn't it common?
Your mother forces you to get married, which is usually the tone. "You see so-and-so home next door, the children are born. You, your high school grades are a few blocks behind her. How can you be left behind now? " Your mother forced you to get married to some extent from a comparison, specifically with the daughters of relatives and friends around you, abstractly speaking, age and time.
When you get together with college classmates, you will usually encounter such a situation: "Oh, what is your annual income now?" "I heard that whoever starts their own business is financially free." "Why are you here? I drove here, alas, the Porsche I just changed was almost rubbed by the public next to me. " Behind the intentional or unintentional chat is a utilitarian comparison mentality. Everyone wants to compare the result of "I live better than you" in front of old classmates.
In the WeChat group, several colleagues are talking about buying a house, and you are in a hurry. Go home and discuss it with your husband. Is it necessary to add some leverage to buy a suite? When making a series of big and small decisions in life, we are also easily influenced by the mentality of comparison. How can we still sit still when we watch the house bought by others rise by hundreds of thousands? I don't know that everyone's life has its own rhythm. If you blindly follow the rhythm of others, you can only live yourself as a fake version of others.
Many times, we think with comparative thinking, even in the business world, such comparative thinking is very common.
It is true that comparative thinking can bring iterative development, but it can't solve the ultimate problem of things development.
Elon Musk, who is known as Iron Man in Silicon Valley, put it this way: It is very important that we think with first-principles rather than comparative thinking. We always tend to compare in life-others have done it or are doing it, so we will do it. The result of this comparative thinking is only a small iterative development. The way of thinking of the first principle is to look at the world from a physical point of view, that is, to peel off the appearance of things layer by layer, see the essence inside, and then go up from the essence layer by layer. It takes a lot of brain power.
Under the thinking mode of the first principle, Musk created the myth of entrepreneurship.
Under the comparative thinking and first-principles thinking, many questions will have completely different answers:
For example, if a college graduate is faced with the choice of postgraduate entrance examination and work, if he uses comparative thinking, he may learn from the choice of the best seniors in the previous session, or listen to the opinions of teachers and parents.
However, with first-principles thinking, he wants to answer the ultimate proposition of "what kind of person he wants to be". Although this question seems abstract, it even takes a lot of brain power and time to explore, once he answers this ultimate question, many problems he faces on the road of life will be solved. The choice made by comparative thinking can only solve the dilemma of postgraduate entrance examination or work, but it can't help him solve the greater confusion in life.
Another example is that parents educate their children and see that the children of Lao Wang's family next door are excellent. If they use comparative thinking, he will learn from Lao Wang next door. Lao Wang sent his children to key middle schools, found the best tutor for them, taught them to learn painting and music, and his children passed by.
However, with first-principles thinking, what parents have to solve is the ultimate problem of "how to develop children's creativity, cultivate children's interest in learning and tap their potential". In order to solve this problem, perhaps the best way is to leave children at home to study freely, or send them abroad for more creative education.
Another example is writing. I have been practicing with comparative thinking, so I have done a lot of data collection, imitated the topic and writing framework, and even imitated some WeChat large-scale practices. From time to time, I chased a hot spot. Although it brought a little poor reading, it made me lose the fun of writing, not to mention feeling anxious after deep thinking.
However, thinking about how to use first-principles thinking to improve writing level is not simply imitation and plagiarism, but to improve one's keen observation, judgment, understanding and perception of life and self, do a lot of investment and observation, and write sincere and beautiful words with love for life.
Many people who realize knowledge claim that writing is a skill that can be acquired through training. I have deep doubts about this. If writing is based on a practical field, such as writing marketing copy, WeChat article and headline party article, it may be obtained through training, but if writing is regarded as a test of self-thinking and a way to observe and appreciate life, it is to put the cart before the horse through training.
It's time to think about life with first-principles thinking.
What other ways of thinking do you think are worth learning? Welcome to share your opinions in the comments section.
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