Yourself
How to use the meta-problem process to solve your own problems
The best way to improve your own problem-solving skills is to try out the meta-problem process on an issue that's important to you. At the end of this exercise, you will have more clarity on whichever situation you set out to resolve.
Dilemma
This is the high-level issue you are trying to address. For this example, let’s assume that the issue is you want a more comfortable life.
Goals
These are the changes you could make to address the dilemma. You are likely to have many options. For example, you could decide your goal is to make more money, move to a different location, buy a better house, get more leisure time, hire someone to help around the house, and many more options. Depending on how you define “a more comfortable life”, you can pick one or more of these goals to focus on.
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For this example, let’s assume you decide to focus on the goal of making more money.
Problem Space
While goals tell us what we want, our next step is to understand what is holding us back from making progress on them.
This approach is borrowed from calculus as we explore the neighborhood of the current dilemma.
Consider all the things you control that could help with that goal of making more money, such as a new job, getting a promotion, adding a side hustle, and so on.
In this instance, it could be that while you want to make more money, you still want to do work you enjoy. Or you might consider moving to a location that has more high-paid work opportunities, but you value the community and support network that you have already built. You could push for a promotion, but what about the extra stress? Maybe you could start a side hustle, but are you prepared to give up more of your time?
Take your time to go back and forth between your goals and your options. As you spell out some of the tradeoffs, you might realize your initial goals were too restrictive. Is it really that you want to make more money, or could you also be happier by spending less? Maybe that seems like a great idea until you think about what you could cut, and then earning more sounds a lot more attractive (even if it means a more stressful job).
High-Yield Problems
Sometimes solving one problem helps you make progress towards several goals at once. In this step, we identify these “two-for-the-price-of-one” problems. For example, launching a side hustle could help you develop new skills that increase your job satisfaction overall. Or if you were in a job where you weren’t valued, finding a new job could come with higher pay and also less stress. Any of the solutions that lead to more income can also help you with other aspects of a comfortable life by allowing you to have more flexibility in the rest of your decisions.
Meta-Problem
Now that you have figured out the range of problems that you could tackle to achieve your goals, evaluated the tradeoffs and identified the high-yield candidates, the challenge is to pick the best problem or set of problems to solve. The right problem (or set of problems) is the one that gives you the highest return for the least effort.
As you evaluate your current situation, you can spot those opportunities. When you acknowledge that your current job undervalues you, it becomes obvious to go look for something better. At the same time, you might realize that hiring some help will give you the time and mental energy to start working on a side hustle. Or you might notice that switching departments at your current company is the best way to earn more without the stress of a fully blown job search.
Implement, Learn and Adapt
Observe and learn as you go. New information may reveal itself as you implement your chosen solution, so check continuously that you’re still solving the right problem. For example, you thought getting a new job was the best option, but see that a side hustle might fit you better. For important decisions, there are often so many unknowns that it would be virtually impossible to get it right on your first try. Knowing your goals and other options will still help you make the best choice you can every step of the way.
Give it a shot! Worst case you take a few minutes and realize the problem you picked really is a tough nut to crack. On the upside, maybe you'll learn that you had different or better options than you realized.
If you have suggestions for improving the meta-problem process, or if you would like to engage me to help, click on Contact and send me a note!