Be a Better Problem Solver
Most of us think we’re pretty good at solving problems. But we are often surprisingly bad at choosing the right problem to solve, and we pay dearly for that.
Picking the wrong problem leads us to waste enormous amounts of money, talent, time and energy chasing down the wrong road.
This waste of our limited resources happens every day, across every domain from the personal to business, societal and global. And it happens across every level of problem, from trivial to existential.
Enter the Meta-Problem
The challenge of picking the right problem to solve is what I call the Meta-Problem. If you are going to invest resources (money, time, talent), this is the place to focus to maximize your Return On Investment. As Albert Einstein supposedly said: “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and five minutes resolving it.”
Starting by determining and selecting the correct problem to work on sets us up to focus on what matters.
Most of us do the opposite. We are so anxious to get started on the solution that we lock ourselves in too early, and fail to compare and weigh the alternative problems we could solve to get to our goal. The Meta-Problem is a framework designed to counter that tendency and avoid wasted resources.
The Meta-Problem framework is beneficial in almost every problem-solving and decision-making situation, and I intend to explore many of them here over time. With your help, we can improve the quality of decision-making and problem-solving now and in the next generation. I believe the world will be better for it.
