In long-term learning planning, how does first principles thinking help students identify core goals?

Let's take an analogy: imagine you want to build a house. This is your "long-term learning plan."

How do most people go about it? They look at their neighbors' houses, what interior design styles are currently popular, or listen to friends talk about good tiles or expensive flooring. Then, they piece these ideas together as their goal for building a house. For example, "I want a Nordic-style living room," "I want an open-plan kitchen," "I want a smart toilet."

What's the result? The house might look decent, but living in it always feels a bit off. This is because you never asked the most fundamental question: Why am I building this house in the first place?

"First Principles" forces you to ask this most fundamental, core question. It makes you peel back layers, like an onion, shedding those external influences like "what others say," "what looks cool," or "what everyone else is doing," to find your own truest, unshakeable needs.

Applied to a learning plan, the process roughly goes like this:

1. Discard superficial goals:

   • Your initial goal might be: "I want to learn programming because it's popular now and pays well."
   • This is a goal influenced by external factors, making it fragile. Once you encounter difficulties in learning, or hear that another industry is more lucrative, you might give up.

2. Continuously ask "Why":

   • First why: Why do you want to learn programming? -> Because I want to find a good job.
   • Second why: Why is "programming" that good job? -> Because it pays well, looks cool, and allows me to create things.
   • Third why: Which is more important to you, "high salary" or "creating things"? -> Hmm... "creating things" seems more appealing to me. I like the feeling of turning an idea into reality.
   • Fourth why: What exactly is this joy of "creating things" like? -> It's that feeling when I use my logic and wisdom to solve a difficult problem, then build a useful tool or an interesting application. That gives me immense satisfaction.

3. Find the "core goal" (First Principle):

   • You see, through this series of "whys," your goal has transformed from the specific action of "learning programming" into "becoming a problem-solver who can create useful things through logic and technology."

This is your "core goal." It's an unshakeable core that won't easily waver.

What's the use of finding this "core goal"?

• Provides sustained intrinsic motivation: Your motivation is no longer "everyone says it's good," but "I want to become that kind of person." When you're learning a tedious algorithm, you won't feel like you're just rote memorizing; instead, you'll see it as training your core ability to "solve problems." This motivation comes from within and is incredibly powerful.
• Makes your plan clearer and more flexible: Your core is "creation," and "programming" is just one of the best tools for it right now. If a better creative tool emerges in the future (like more powerful AI), you can unhesitatingly learn the new tool, because your core goal hasn't changed. You won't get lost in the anxiety of "what if I only know Python?"
• Helps you make choices: Along your learning journey, you'll encounter countless choices: Should I learn this framework? Should I get that certificate? At these moments, you can use your core goal to judge: Can this help me better "become a problem-solver"? If yes, learn it; if it's just a trendy, quickly outdated thing, you can decisively let it go.

In essence, First Principles help you lay the right foundation. With the right foundation, the structure above it (what specifically to learn, how to learn) can be adjusted as needed, but the entire building (your life's direction) won't collapse.