Physics

Physics isn’t just a subject you study in school — it’s a foundational mental model for understanding how everything works. The laws of physics are the operating system of reality, and developing an intuition for them gives you a framework for thinking about work, energy, systems, and change that applies far beyond the lab.

Work in physics has a precise definition: force applied over a distance. Something only “works” in the physics sense when a force actually moves something. You can push against a wall all day and do zero work (physically speaking). This is a surprisingly useful metaphor for life — effort without movement isn’t productive. Being busy isn’t the same as making progress. The question isn’t “how hard are you pushing?” but “is anything actually moving?”

Potential Energy is another concept that translates beautifully. A rock at the top of a hill has potential energy — it hasn’t done anything yet, but it’s positioned to do a lot. Building skills, building relationships, building knowledge — these are all forms of storing potential energy. You might not see immediate results, but you’re creating the conditions for massive kinetic energy when the moment comes. Warren Buffett sitting on cash is potential energy. Years of deliberate practice before a breakthrough performance is potential energy.

The laws of thermodynamics are mental models in themselves. The first law (energy is conserved) tells you that you can’t create something from nothing — every output requires an input. The second law (entropy always increases) tells you that systems naturally tend toward disorder. Without active effort to maintain and organize, everything degrades. This applies to your body, your relationships, your codebase, your business, your room. Maintenance isn’t optional; it’s fighting entropy.

Newton’s laws are equally instructive. An object in motion stays in motion (momentum matters — it’s easier to keep going than to start). Force equals mass times acceleration (bigger things are harder to change — large organizations, entrenched habits, heavy objects). Every action has an equal and opposite reaction (there are always consequences and tradeoffs).

Logic and physics are deeply intertwined. Physics is essentially logic applied to the natural world, formalized through mathematics. Learning to think like a physicist — building models, testing predictions, updating your understanding based on evidence — is First Principles thinking in its purest form. Physicists don’t argue from analogy or authority; they argue from fundamental laws and mathematical relationships.

The practical value of physics thinking is that it gives you a bullshit detector. When someone proposes something that would violate conservation of energy, or claims exponential growth forever in a finite system, or ignores friction and resistance in their plans, your physics intuition flags it. You don’t need to do the math — you just need to have internalized the principles deeply enough to feel when something doesn’t add up.

Study physics not to become a physicist, but to become a better thinker. The universe doesn’t care about your opinions — it follows its laws regardless. Learning those laws is learning the ground truth of reality, and that’s an edge that never stops paying dividends.