What is the problem you are *really* trying to solve?

We are often distracted by the urgent. We spend our days answering emails, attending meetings, and fixing minor issues. These tasks feel productive, but they are often proxies for the real work. They are the visible, immediate problems, not the important ones.

The real problem is the one that, if solved, would make many of these smaller problems irrelevant. It is the systemic issue, the root cause, the unspoken constraint. Finding it requires stepping back from the noise and asking what is truly at stake.

This is not a comfortable process. It often means admitting that the work we have been doing is not the work that is needed. But it is the only way to make meaningful progress.

What this changes in practice: Before you start a task, ask yourself: “If I solve this, what larger problem does it address?”