Chapter Eight
PAST
FIND OUT “WHY?”
Never ignore a gut feeling, but never believe that it’s enough.
—Robert Heller
The second most common thinking skill we use on a daily basis is often called problem solving. In this skill, we need to find out why something happened, or what went wrong (or what went right!). It always involves looking back to the past and evaluating.
“Well, that’s no big deal. I do that every day,” you say. And so you do.
But, is it your habit to over- or under analyze a problem? Do you tend to hit the mark all the time, or is it hit or miss? What if it’s a complicated issue? Could you justify your reasoning process if someone asked you to do so? Most importantly, are you confident that you’ll come up with a clear and accurate answer every time?
The good news is: I’m confident that I can teach you an easy system to “find out why” accurately, every time.
So let’s get started.
Here are the basic problem-solving steps we’ll learn in this chapter:
1. State the problem
2. Gather facts
3. Compare
4. Look for differences/changes
5. Verify likely cause
1. STATE THE PROBLEM
As you might have noticed, every solution to our Dump List concerns begins with a clear statement that gives us laser like focus on the task at hand. In the skill of problem solving, we’re like detectives figuring out “who done it?” Whether we’re trying to find out what our company did to generate off-the-charts sales last quarter, or why our teammate who plays first base keeps missing the ball, our ...
