Starting From First Principles: Acting on Julian's Advice

What is the article, video, podcast, Instagram post, or content that you enjoyed so much that you had to share with your inner circle?

Julian’s article is by far my favorite article to share at the moment. I recently started working on my personal first principles for what I can use as my foundation as I filter new advice or make decisions. This was after reading a thread by Julian Shapiro, where he discussed the importance of creating a funnel and filter of what we hold close in regards to actually putting advice into action.

Think of starting principles as breaking down anything to its most basic elements. An example of this was historic basketball coach John Wooden always taught all of his student-athletes how to put their socks on and to get the correct fitting shoes to ensure they did not get blisters. As blisters would lead to hindered development and performance by causing student-athletes to miss practice. As well as shining light on how important the most fundamental elements are to the team. This is similar in the book Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Galloway learning how to hold and grip the racket. I am naturally curious and love to learn but am guilty of exactly what Julian discussed in his thread, where we collect advice and information from our content diet, think “oh that’s cool” but truly don’t put it into practice in everyday life situations. I catch myself at times doing more consuming than action. Compared to creating space to take in all of that great information from a book, podcast, or conversation then sitting with it, reflecting, and actually putting some of it into practice.

This process hit me in a lot of different ways. I have read over this tweet thread so many times as it really hit home and I connected with it so deeply. Then realizing I was falling into the same trap that the tweet was even discussing, loving to read about the process instead of challenging myself to dive right in. Naval Ravikant discusses “impatient with actions, patient with results” and the quote by Shane Parrish from Farnam Street “The cost of perfection is inaction” both are great starting principles to live by, as well as principles I needed to remind myself when reading over Julian’s work.

It is obvious but the process of writing out my six starting principles is the actual mental exploration and work. Where reading over the tweet thread is thought provoking enough to feel like the work but is only repetition of step one. Getting over the hurdle that you are stuck with or that these may not be the best six choices is all a part of the process of refining the skills of making a decision and iterating the ideas.

My starting principles as of September 1st, 2021

1. Three Choices in Life. Accept it, Change it, or Leave It (Naval Ravikant)

2. Memento Mori. “You could leave life right now, let that determine what you do and think”

3. “Pay Yourself First” (Robert Kiyosaki)

4. “Every Action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become” (James Clear)

5. “What would this look like if it was easy?” (Tim Ferris)

6. “The quality of the people around you dictate the quality of your life” (Joe Rogan)

I also asked my father what his starting principles were as I went through the process of writing out my six and he narrowed it down to these seven and said he would work towards deciding what made the final six. (Side note it seemed like he did it in about 5 minutes)

My Dad (September 1st)

1. Keep moving forward

2. Sometimes wanting is better than having

3. Can’t control mother nature, another’s nature, just my nature.

4. Know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away

5. Tomorrow is always a new day

6. The wrapping is sometimes the best part of the gift

7. Be open to change, but you have to be ready and open to it

The key is action, doing the work, and creating stillness in the moment to use your principles. Create space to step back from what you are doing and filter your decisions through the six that you chose. This writing is a reminder to myself. It is great to have ideas, be curious, and creative but the goal is to build off of step one, not fool yourself for mistaken progress by repeatedly doing step one over and over again. Doing step one is challenging and feels like growth but exponential growth comes from entering the arena with step one completed. Get in the arena and complete steps two, three, four and experience life fully. Lean into September's decisions, actions, and moments with stillness when using the six starting principles. Then I can re-evaluate what worked, what didn’t, or if I found something better. Living life is getting in the arena not mistaking progress for ruminating in the act of brainstorming ideas, even if it is positive, in step one.

The process Julian shared has been a helpful tool in my path as I have been consistently asking myself and my close friends the questions below. Going back to what Naval said “impatient with action, patient with results.” My goal in writing this is to share with you as well as personally get over step one of asking and get into step two of action.

1. Who do I want to be?

2. What am I building?

3. What is my purpose?

4. What is living?

5. What do I want?

I greatly appreciate his insight, willingness to share on this topic, and the opportunity to build off of what he shared. I would love to hear about your starting principles and how getting into the arena has been for you.

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