Cut the knot

Maybe you’re in a season of life where everything feels overwhelming. Too many moving parts. Too many expectations. Too many things pulling at your time and energy.

You try to push through, keep everything moving, make it all work—but at some point, it just feels impossible. Like no matter how hard you try, you can’t make it all fit.

I get it. And this reminds me of something from my childhood.

The Knots in the Fishing Line

As a kid, I loved fishing. Not just the act itself, but the entire process—the tackle box, the lures, the cast. But there was one thing I got obsessed with: untangling knots.

Every so often, my fishing line would get completely knotted up. Not a small snag, but a full-on, tangled disaster. And every time, my dad would say the same thing:

“Just cut the line and start over.”

But I couldn’t.

Something about figuring out the knot—untangling it, working through the mess, finding the exact point where everything locked together—felt deeply satisfying. It was frustrating, sure. But if I could just get it undone, I wouldn’t have to lose my favorite lure.

I’d sit there, threading the line back through, pulling here, loosening there, until eventually… it gave.

And man, that feeling—the moment it all unlocked—was the best.

When Our Feelings Deceive Us

I think about that feeling a lot, especially when life gets complicated. Because it’s not always easy to cut the line, burn it all down, start from scratch, or walk away.

Even when that’s actually the wisdom we need most.

At the time, I didn’t realize that, even though I enjoyed untangling the knot, my father carried a lot of wisdom in those words.

Not every knot is worth saving.

Sometimes, the best thing you can do is let go of the mess, start fresh, and move forward.

So what do we do when life feels overwhelming—when things aren’t working, but we don’t know what to change?

We go back to first principles.

First principles thinking is about stripping everything down to its core. Instead of making small adjustments to a broken system, we ask:

• What actually needs to be here?

• What is fundamentally true, no matter what?

• If we had to start from scratch, what would we do differently?

Most of us don’t think this way naturally. We work from assumptions, habits, and history—we try to tweak what already exists instead of asking whether it should exist in the first place.

The Gordian Knot: A Lesson in Decision-Making

In 333 BCE, Alexander the Great arrived in the city of Gordium, where he encountered an intricate knot tied to an ox-cart. The prophecy stated that whoever could untie this knot would rule all of Asia.

Many had tried to unravel it, meticulously working to find its end. But Alexander, after examining the knot and considering its complexity, made a bold decision. Instead of attempting to untangle it, he drew his sword and cut through the knot, solving the problem in a single stroke.

This is first principles thinking in action.

Instead of asking How do I untangle this knot?, Alexander asked What’s the simplest way to remove the problem entirely?

And sometimes, that’s exactly the shift we need to make.

What Keeps Us from First Principles?

But here’s the problem: we resist doing this.

Because going back to first principles means letting go.

And we hate letting go.

That’s the sunk cost fallacy at work.

Sunk cost is what makes us hold onto things just because we’ve already invested in them—even if they’re not working. It’s why people stay in jobs they hate, keep relationships alive that aren’t serving them, or refuse to abandon a project that clearly isn’t clicking.

We tell ourselves, “I can’t walk away now—I’ve already put in so much.”

But here’s the truth: that time is gone, no matter what. The only thing that matters is what actually serves you now.

This is why first principles thinking is so powerful. It forces us to stop clinging to what we’ve built just because we built it. Instead, it makes us cut through the mess and get to what actually matters.

The Breakthroughs That Come from First Principles

The biggest breakthroughs—the moments where something clicks—happen when we’re willing to strip things down.

• When Steve Jobs redesigned Apple, he didn’t just make better computers—he questioned everything about how technology should feel, work, and integrate into people’s lives.

• When Elon Musk rethought rockets, he didn’t ask, “How do we make a cheaper rocket?” He asked, “What are the fundamental materials of a rocket, and how can we rebuild from scratch?”

• When Marie Kondo built her approach to decluttering, she didn’t say, “How do we organize better?” She said, “What actually brings joy, and why are we keeping anything that doesn’t?”

These kinds of shifts change entire industries, but they also change our personal lives.

When you let go of what no longer serves you, when you strip away everything but what truly matters—that’s when things unlock.

How to Operate from First Principles

If you’re in a place where everything feels too much, here’s how to strip it back:

1. Pause. Define the real issue.

Not the surface frustration—what’s actually broken?

2. Break it down to fundamentals.

What actually has to be here? What are you assuming is necessary that might not be?

3. Challenge everything.

Are you keeping something just because you’ve already put time into it?

4. Let go of what’s weighing you down.

The hardest part. But if it’s not serving you, it’s in the way.

5. Rebuild with only what matters.

Start from the absolute core. Add back only what is essential.

When things get overwhelming, it’s easy to feel like more effort is the answer—like you just need to work harder, do more, push through.

But the real answer isn’t more. It’s less.

Strip it back. Untangle the knot when you need to—but have the wisdom to cut it when you don’t.

And watch how everything starts to make sense again.