“Be part of the solution, not the problem” is something we all know.
If you believe enough in this, you have likely looked for solutions in your life, rather than cribbing about problems. That’s a huge step indeed.
In fact, I have spent a huge part of my life looking for the right solutions.
What I realized along the way, that the “looking” could itself be a problem.
Where we are looking, analyzing, preparing, learning for years. Accumulating certifications, getting experience, attending courses – but never taking the leap.
‘Looking’ becomes an excuse for inaction. The proxy for our fear of failure.
So I stopped looking and started acting.
Start…and then refine it as you go! Jump in the water, then learn to swim.
Act, work hard, persist, keep going, persevere, don’t give up. Go deep. Commit. This also helped.
In short, don’t wait for the right solution. Choose a solution and then make it right.
This also helped. Until it did not. And I did not know where the gap was…
And then I found the gap lurking in a totally unexpected place…
It was the word ‘the’. Saying ‘looking for the right solution’ assumes there is only one right solution.
What if the solution lies somewhere else? What if the right solution is a combination of multiple solutions? How would I even know, if I am too busy chasing one solution?
Depth is good. But for a depth that works, breadth is needed.
The answer then lied in experimenting with multiple possibilities. To be open to multiple possibilities. Especially the ones that made me uncomfortable. To try out multiple things, and then see what happens.