How to Find Solutions When There Are No Good Options
Welcome to One Thing Better. Each week, the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine (that's me) shares one way to achieve a breakthrough at work — and build a career or company you love.
Today's edition is sponsored by Kick, my favorite bookkeeping software (for real!). See details at the end of the newsletter.
You're facing a problem with no obvious solution.
Maybe it's a work challenge, a family issue, or a personal dilemma. You've thought about it from every angle, but every option seems flawed. You're stuck, frustrated, and running out of ideas.
Today, I'll show you a simple but powerful technique that can break you out of this trap. I call it List Before You Leap.
The idea is this: Before deciding what to do, list every solution you can think of — even (and especially!) the really bad ones. This may sound simple, but doing it will feel profound. It will help you find solutions you never would have considered otherwise.
I'll explain how and why it works — but first, I'll tell you about a conversation at home where this strategy came in handy…
When every idea gets shot down
My wife Jen and I were recently trying to solve an issue about our son's friends. It's one of those sticky, emotional issues that every parent faces.
"Let's start listing potential solutions," I told Jen. "Here's the first one…"
I shared an idea, but Jen immediately cut me off. "That's not going to work," she said, and started explaining why.
I told her: Don't reject ideas yet. Let's just list every solution we can think of. Then I offered a second solution — but again, she interrupted me. "That won't work either," she said, and explained why.
"You're missing the point," I said.
Then I explained what I was trying to do — because it's part of a problem-solving strategy that I use in business all the time.
The problem with solutions
Here's the problem: When we consider solutions one by one, we make it easy to say no.
Why? Because when we reject one idea, we implicitly assume that there's a better one coming!
It's kinda like dating. Sometimes it's hard to commit to one person, because it feels too easy to find someone else. You think: Eh, this person's fine, but I'm sure there's someone better…
But in complicated situations, there are not endless options. Instead, there are a fixed number of options — and even if they're all imperfect, you must pick one.
That's why you can't evaluate solutions one by one. When you do, you become biased toward saying no — because "no" allows you to move on to the next (hopefully better) solution.
Instead, you must become biased toward saying "yes." Which means…
You must list before you leap
When you're trying to find the answer to a difficult question, here's what to do:
List every solution you can think of — even if they're bad or impractical.
Look at that list. Tell yourself: I must pick one of these options.
Start narrowing down.
Once you see all your options in front of you, your mindset will shift. You'll start by eliminating the truly terrible ones, and then you'll take the remainders more seriously.
Maybe there are only five potential solutions, and four of them really suck. One of them only sorta sucks. That's your best choice! So pick it.
Does that sound terrible? It shouldn't. Because here's the good news: Once you act, you will create more options.
Thinking does not create more solutions. Only acting creates more solutions. When you act, you prompt someone else's reaction. You gain more information. The problem shifts, creating more pathways for success.
Then you go back to step back, and do this whole process over again.
How I use this process
I "list before I leap" all the time. Here are some recent ways I applied it:
I'm planning an event, and my team had to make some hard choices about the programming. We kept looking for perfect answers, so I laid out every imperfect solution and said: "We need to pick one." Eventually, we did.
A friend is unhappy at work, but isn't sure what to do. So after talking for 15 minutes, I said: "OK, here are all your possible options." Then I listed five. We discussed each, and settled on one — which she's now taking action on.
My wife and I started addressing the sticky school situation. Here's how it went:
We went through the exercise and came up with seven options. We quickly eliminated five of them. Then we debated the final two, made a decision, and started to act.
Now we're having useful conversations with other parents, learning and adapting, and moving towards solving this problem.
Is our solution perfect? No. But that's OK. I mean, if perfect answers existed, we'd have found them already. When we're stuck, it's because we need to make hard choices.
This isn't about settling for mediocrity. It's about creating a preference for action — and forcing yourself to say "yes" to something, instead of remaining in the false comfort of "no."
Don't do nothing. Do something. Pick an option.
That's how to do one thing better.
This bookkeeping tool saves me time and money!
Work for yourself like me? Then you know that bookkeeping software sucks. I've used the major ones like QuickBooks. They're all confusing, waste my time, and don't actually help me save money come tax time. But bookkeeping is essential. You can't avoid it. You need to use *something* to do your books. Otherwise, tax season becomes a stressful and costly nightmare. Enter Kick.co. I've seen it. I use it. I love it. It's the future. True story: I laughed out loud the first time I saw Kick. It was SO easy! I thought, "How hasn't this existed before?!" If you're a freelancer, a coach, constant, or a startup founder — you NEED Kick. Really. It'll save you (and your team, if you have one) so much time, energy, stress, and money. Sign up today using promo code JASON for 50% off your first 3 months.
*sponsored
Four ways that I can help you...
📈 Build your authority on LinkedIn. In this easy and low-cost course, I'll teach you how to build a powerful personal brand on LinkedIn — attracting the kind of customers, partners, or employers you want.
🛍️Free advice for CPG founders!Join me live on June 12, where my team and I will be giving free advice to anyone in CPG (food, cosmetics, cleaning, etc). We've built CPG brands that collectively serve 10 million customers and raised $100 million — and in this hour, we're helping YOU grow.
👋 I'll help your team embrace change. I deliver keynotes and workshops, both in person and virtually, to help teams thrive in times of change. I've worked with Pfizer, Microsoft, Dell, Crocs, Dick's Sporting Goods, and more. Let's talk!
📣 Show your brand to my audience. I reach 70K readers in this newsletter and 230K followers on LinkedIn.
And two ways you can help me...
Please share this newsletter! You can share today's edition by finding the web version right here. Or just forward this email and suggest they subscribe.
Reply and tell me what you think! I love hearing from readers — and if you have a question, it might prompt a future newsletter.
No comments:
Post a Comment