Why Problems Keep You Rowing In Circles
Your Problem Is Problems
I spent decades in digital production for the publishing industry.
We were always navigating new territory. New tools. New workflows. New expectations. New ways for things to break.
We had problems. Real ones.
There was a guy who liked to stick his head in the office while we were deliberating. He could not find the power button on a computer. But he always knew what our problem was.
“I know what your problem is,” he would say. “It’s just one little thing. Find that one little thing and you’ll fix it.”
So we would fix it. And he would stick his head back in.
“I knew it. It’s always just one little thing.”
I think we all have that guy in our heads.
When I say your problem is problems — I mean something similar. Not just the specific problem in front of you. Something underneath it.
You did not choose the Problem Mindset. Neither did I.
It was handed to us. From school. From institutions. From every playbook that said the same thing quietly and consistently:
Find the problem. Fix it. Repeat. Find a bigger one. Win bigger.
That logic made sense inside the systems that trained us.
But it does not scale well.
I have watched smart, capable people spend years chasing what I think of as their personal White Whale. The one problem that, if solved, would finally open the path and prove their worth.
And while they were rowing in circles, something else was happening.
Their attention was being trained.
Their mindset was being formed.
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
— Anaïs Nin
What you repeatedly look for, you become better at seeing. Spend enough time scanning for problems and you become genuinely excellent at finding them. That is a valuable skill. But it is also not the whole picture.
Peter Drucker spent decades mapping where innovation actually comes from.
He found seven sources. Unexpected success or failure. Incongruities. Process needs. Industry and market changes. Demographics. Changes in perception. New knowledge.
Problems are one of them.
A problem is just another opportunity.
I think about that a lot. It is like walking into a house with seven open windows and only looking through one. Not because the other six are locked. Just because nobody thought they were important enough to tell you they were there.
The seven windows do not replace problem-solving. They widen what you notice and expand your potential options.
A problem is an indicator of opportunity. But so is an unexpected success. So is a strange pattern that does not fit the existing map. So is the small moment that makes you stop and think:
Hmm. Ouch. Wow.
The problem-first mindset asks what is wrong here first.
The larger question is what is possible here.
“Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.”
— Peter Drucker, Managing for Results, 1964
I do not think Drucker meant problems do not matter. I think he meant they have a limited ceiling. Solve one and you reset to solve another. Step through an opportunity and you are on a new path.
That makes all of the difference.
Something to think about…
What problem have you been chasing that nobody actually asked you to solve?
Where are you maintaining motion without creating momentum?
What would you notice this week if you looked for opportunities before looking for problems?