This is an excellent article. At first, I didn’t understand what you were saying at all. Then, an internet snafu caused me to lose the page midway through. I fought my system & the app to find it again, because I really wanted to understand the concept.
After two days I managed to find it again, because fortunately, I had book marked it. I’m actually glad I had to read it a second time, because then, it became clear. My response to this is extensive — I wrote an actual article here on it.
I have heard of Elon Musk for quite a while, but since I don’t tend to be celebrity focused, I never paid attention to him. Therefore, I had no idea of why he is famous until reading this.
Now, as a result of this article, I have a newfound admiration of Elon Musk.
There were several statements you made that rang true for me.
First, I’m a Virgo, so analogy is practically my middle name. And, I do find physics interesting, yet was surprised with the realization that I am already operating in this principle to some extent.
But before I tell you how, let me get to the quotes I loved first.
“Deconstruct then reconstruct.”
“The snowmobile example also highlights another hallmark of first principles thinking, which is the combination of ideas from seemingly unrelated fields.”
“The best solution is not where everyone is already looking.”
“First principles thinking helps you to cobble together information from different disciplines to create new ideas and innovations. You start by getting to the facts.”
“One of the primary obstacles to first principles thinking is our tendency to optimize form rather than function.”
“When most people envision the future, they project the current form forward rather than projecting the function forward and abandoning the form.”
“Old conventions and previous forms are often accepted without question and, once accepted, they set a boundary around creativity.”
“Optimize the function. Ignore the form. This is how you learn to think for yourself.”
“First principles thinking sets you on a different trajectory.”
All of these quotes accurately describe my current journey. I am a Licensed Massage Therapist that has rebelled, so-to-speak against the Standard. The reason is because as a person who has lived with pain, my focus as an LMT is to eliminate it.
Being that my mindset is Holistic, I don’t ascribe to the current “System of Medicine;” which preys on the weak to make it’s beneficiaries strong, and profits from extending or prolonging sickness, disease and death.
I am also well aware of the role of the pharmaceutical and chemical companies owned by Monsanto in this death machine. But mostly, I became a rebel with a cause in the Massage Industry for several reasons.
The primary reason is that Swedish Massage — the Standard is ineffective against severe, chronic or acute pain problems.
The only way that Swedish Massage becomes somewhat useful in treating pain is due to the benefits of increased or improved circulation.
Outside of that, it’s just a feel-good luxury, and the effects are very temporal, unless you are a frequent, weekly client.
For someone like me who wants to fix the problem as opposed to milking it into continuous, ongoing visits for my own selfish benefit; it’s a no-brainer. Especially in light of the fact that there are millions world wide that are suffering.
I needed a different approach.
The second reason is because I find the current methods of pain treatment via symptom management, as opposed to balance management or imbalance correction; to be insane and totally inefficient and ineffective as a solution.
So I created a system. I broke the problem down, unknowingly using this First Principles ideology. In creating my system, the first thing I did was stop following the rules set by the Standard and my employers. I wanted to observe my clients, and listen to their bodies had to tell me.
I became an Intuitive.
Simply stated, I listened and paid attention to my clients and focused more attention to what the bodies were teaching me instead of what the school and the industry taught me.
As a result, I developed a system for reading the pain patterns in a person’s body. This system allows me to break down the pain problem and see it in it’s infancy. Deconstruct to Reconstruct.
It allows me to see the future development of pain problems and the potential for injuries in athletes long before they will occur.
Therefore, I can release the factors contributing to the problem because I know and understand it’s sources.
Second, I developed a new bodywork technique that allows me to go deep into the muscles to release chronic restrictions that cause pain; without the use of Swedish Massage; without the necessity of disrobing; and without stripping the muscle through the use of extreme pressure with the tip of the elbow.
I don’t put my clients in extreme, excruciating pain like therapists utilizing Structural Integration, which is just the new name for Rolfing.
Third, I developed an educational maintenance system so that people could learn how to manage their pain problems for themselves.
My focus is function…restoring it to people who have been needlessly suffering due to lack of education and medical misdirection.
Because of this perspective and focus, it has been difficult maintaining a job, because the industry has become franchised and McDonalized through groupons and a quantity over quality mindset.
Plus, the industry is fixated on form, not function. Most spas claim to accept therapists with a variety of techniques; but the reality is that they want therapist robots — all doing the same thing — Swedish Massage.
Reading James Clear’s article on The First Principles was just confirmation that despite my battle of function against form, my trajectory is set. My path is clear. My journey to bring enlightenment and pain free living has begun.
