Don't Solve Problems, Eliminate Them
Humans are also natural problem seekers. Let that one sink in. You know it's true. And I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking about you and me too. It's tough and takes intentionality to avoid. We just spend so much time solving problems, that we naturally seek problems to solve, even if we don't have those problems right now.
As an example, one of my sisters reached out to me asking if I could help her build an app that basically combined the capabilities of Zoom, Tito, and Google Calendar to enable out-of-work musicians (due to the pandemic) to teach their skills remotely. She was seeking problems to solve before having the problems first.
Instead of helping her build solutions to problems she didn't have yet, I encouraged her to simply use Zoom, Tito, and Google Calendar to get this idea off the ground, and then when those tools fell short, that would be a problem which she would be more equipped to solve because she would have actual experience with the problem and therefore have more context with which to solve the problem.
Ultimately she didn't pursue the idea. It's good that she didn't decide to solve the problems she didn't have before she decided to move on from the idea. I wish I could say I've never made that mistake myself. How many times have I written a test for code I ended up deleting before it even got committed 🤦♂️
