Problems are Opportunities
When something bothers us, we typically get caught up thinking about alternative realities. “Life would be better if this frustration did not exist…”
Typically this leads to us grumbling through the problem solving process and then moving on, once the situation is resolved. Instead of trying to just get through the problem solving process as quickly as possible, see it as an opportunity to create something that provides for future frustrations, not just for yourself but also for others!
Two Dimensions: Personal & Professional
Personally, when we move past frustrations too quickly, we don’t stop to realize how to prevent similar frustrations in the future; or how systemic the problem is, affecting other seemingly unrelated contexts. In other words, there are greater solutions with more lasting impact that are right around the corner, if we only leaned into those moments, instead of rushing through them.
Professionally, this is how business is started and genuine enterprising is done!
When you build a product or service, you make the call on hundreds of tiny decisions each day. If you’re solving someone else’s problem, you’re constantly stabbing in the dark. When you solve your own problem, the light comes on. You know exactly what the right answer is.
Best of all, this “solve your own problem” approach lets you fall in love with what you’re making. You know the problem and the value of its solution intimately. There’s no substitute for that. After all, you’ll (hopefully) be working on this for years to come. Maybe even the rest of your life. It better be something you really care about.
It doesn’t take that many episodes of Shark Tank to realize that the main motivator for entrepreneurial endeavors is solving personal problems. After all, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”
How to be Solution Oriented and Scratch Your Itch
Think about what bugs you, and work toward solutions proactively, instead of waiting for them to arise in the heat of the moment.
Share those solutions with others, and observe any common areas that could be addressed for further enterprising.
When something frustrates you in the moment, don’t just think about the solution, ask HOW this came about in the first place. Focus there!
Proactively eliminate frustrations with the Focus Funnel.
Systematize solutions with the LEAN mindset.
Lack of organization tends to be a major cause of frustration, so maybe start here.
🌟 TOP PICKS
Rework - 80+ short lessons learned by a startup and passed on to all leaders and managers. One lesson from this book is the inspiration for this issue of T+P.
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In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty - Proverbs 14:23
