Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life

by Ozan Varol

Leonardo da Vinci did the same. He famously used his notebooks for thought experiments, sketching various engineering designs he formulated in his mind—from flying machines to churches—instead of physically constructing them.7 Let’s pause there for a moment. As shocking as it sounds, we can generate breakthroughs simply by thinking. No Google. No self-help books. No focus groups or surveys. No advice from a self-proclaimed life coach or an expensive consultant. No copying from competitors. This external search for answers impedes first-principles thinking by focusing our attention on how things are rather than how they could be. Thought experiments take this external inquiry and turn it inward—just you and your imagination. “Pure thought,” Einstein said, “can grasp reality.”8 Thoughts can disprove an argument, show why something will or won’t work, and illuminate the way forward—all without a single physical experiment.