superpower
Surprise me

Action Powers No. 19 of 28

They call it: Asks too many questions We call it

Take-Apart Brain

Also known as first-principles thinking.

The short version You take a messy problem apart until it makes sense, then build a simpler version that works.

Sounds like you?

  • You ask why a rule exists before you agree to follow it.
  • You rebuild a broken toy instead of throwing it out.
  • You read the instructions once, then do it your own way.

Why it’s a power

Some brains accept the way things are done. Yours asks whether the way makes sense. That question is annoying at school and priceless in a workshop.

David Neeleman says it is how he works. The JetBlue founder puts it plainly: “I can think outside the box and look at a very complex situation and simplify it and figure it out.“Source 1 In 1993 his airline Morris Air became one of the first to fly passengers without paper tickets, an idea he says came from how much paper his team was pushing around.Source 2

In interviews, successful adults with ADHD described themselves as nonconformist: not doing things the usual way just because it is usual.Source 3 No study has measured this skill. It is what people describe.

Lived experience

No study measures this. It comes from interviews with adults who have ADHD, and from entrepreneurs describing how they solve problems.

Where it shines

  • Fixing a process nobody else questioned
  • Designing a system from scratch
  • Taking apart a bike or a bug

The flip side

Taking things apart can annoy the people who built them. Some problems do not need a new design, and saying so out loud takes timing.

Power-up: try this today

Pick one thing you do every day and ask what it is for, then change one step of it.

Say it to a kid

You know how some kids take a toy apart to see the inside? You are that kid. You figure out how things really work.

Someone who has this one

David Neeleman

Founder of JetBlue, Azul and Breeze airlines

I can think outside the box and look at a very complex situation and simplify it and figure it out. And I can look at the world just a little bit differently and figure out solutions to things that people would not have thought of.

Said in: Neeleman in TIME for Kids, 2024

David Neeleman has started or co-started five airlines, including JetBlue, Azul and Breeze. In 1993 his airline Morris Air became one of the first to fly passengers without paper tickets. He builds teams of organized people around him so the ideas get finished.

Facts from: Goldman Sachs, 2024, Deseret News, 1993, Neeleman in Forbes, 2023

Take-Apart Brain Idea Fountain

Where this comes from

  1. Rhew, N. (2024, December 19). Real Talk with David Neeleman. TIME for Kids. Read it
  2. Knudson, M. B. (1993, October 20). Most Morris Air fliers can now use number instead of a ticket. Deseret News. Read it
  3. Sedgwick, J. A., Merwood, A., & Asherson, P. (2019). The positive aspects of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a qualitative investigation of successful adults with ADHD. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, 11(3), 241-253. Read it

Next

No. 20: Bounce Back

Back to Deadline Rocket Surprise me See all 28