How Understanding Where You Are Helps You Solve Problems

Have you ever wondered why we expect to find the "you are here" marker when looking at the map of a mall, but rarely expect this from ourselves when trying to solve a problem?

Busy is a curse. We have developed the belief that as long as we are doing something, we are working towards the goal. You take for granted what you know and what you believe and you use that to fuel the idea that you already know the answer and that you know where you are going.

You can't know where you are going until you know where you are
- Bill Brunett

This idea doesn't only invade our personal lives, but our professional ones as well. I cannot tell you how many times, either myself or my team, have been put into a situation to start solving a problem or come up with a new type of solution, only to realize that no one knows where we are.

Solutions are fun. That's what people praise and that's where the reward is. It makes sense why we get so focused on it, we are conditioned towards the deliverable.

If however, you don't understand how things are working today, how can you possibly know what you should do to make something better?

Even better, what happens when no one really knows where they are, but they know they need a solution.

One of the most successful things you can do in your work is to ALWAYS make sure you know where you are. Take the time to assess your current situation, your capabilities, your understanding of the situation. Only once this is done and everything is aligned you should start looking forward towards where you want to go.

There is no glamour in it, often you will be met with resistance because people assume that they know where you are since you are here now (this is rarely true). The better you can frame and understand where you are and why, the better and more innovative your solution will be.

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