This is a very brief post about a simple problem solving strategy I sometimes find useful, that may be worth trying for people who have never done it.
This is the strategy:
When struggling with some difficult problem X, I often find it helpful to write a blog post titled “How I Solved X” or “How I Managed to Overcome X” from a hypothetical future perspective, explaining the path from my current situation to the solution.
It’s not necessary to ever publish this writing or show it to anyone, but I still try to at least entertain the possibility that this might happen.
Naturally it makes sense to avoid putting too much effort in the quality of the writing itself, and rather focus on the content.
Dressing up like a burglar is optional
Why?
This approach has a lot of overlap with e.g. journaling, pair debugging or coaching conversations. Some of the benefits are:
It pushes you to think systematically.
Writing things down may help avoid flinching away from difficult or uncomfortable aspects of the problem.
Targeting the writing at a hypothetical wider audience might sharpen the senses and increase the quality of reasoning.
Taking the vantage point of a future where the problem has already been overcome may unlock some creative solutions that would be otherwise hard to come up with. Somewhat like the opposite of Murphyjitsu.
Personally, I also find that this approach decreases my anxiety and increases motivation; it gives me a convincing feeling that the problem is indeed solvable and I’m now on track to do so. Somehow I mysteriously get this comforting sensation of not being alone in struggling with the problem.
It helps put the focus on actual solutions; to actually cut through the problem rather than attacking it ineffectively.
It’s free and pretty low-effort.
In some cases it may actually lead to a publishable artifact that other people may find insightful.
As a side effect, it may serve as writing practice and help overcome perfectionism.
Some Examples
Here are some things I already have or eventually might write such a fake blog post about:
Achieving my desired body weight, something I failed to do for many years
Decluttering my flat
Overcoming the problem of perpetually feeling busy and as if there’s never enough time to do all the things I’d like to do
Being able to emotionally feel secure and content in a polyamorous relationship
Growing an AI Safety discussion group I’m organizing
Establishing an internal prediction market platform at my workplace
Often I don’t actually finish these posts, but go through a couple of quick writing sessions and find that already sufficient to identify a decent solution and get myself unstuck enough to actually implement it.
Next Steps
If this sounds like the kind of thing that might potentially work for you and you've never tried it before, I’d suggest to now spend two minutes and do the following:
Think of a problem you're facing that would be a good candidate to write a fake blog post about
Create a google doc or similar, with the corresponding title
Write at least the first two sentences, maybe schedule a 10 minute session later on to do continue
If you like, set a reminder to return to this post in the future and share your experience
This is a very brief post about a simple problem solving strategy I sometimes find useful, that may be worth trying for people who have never done it.
This is the strategy:
When struggling with some difficult problem X, I often find it helpful to write a blog post titled “How I Solved X” or “How I Managed to Overcome X” from a hypothetical future perspective, explaining the path from my current situation to the solution.
It’s not necessary to ever publish this writing or show it to anyone, but I still try to at least entertain the possibility that this might happen.
Naturally it makes sense to avoid putting too much effort in the quality of the writing itself, and rather focus on the content.
Why?
This approach has a lot of overlap with e.g. journaling, pair debugging or coaching conversations. Some of the benefits are:
Some Examples
Here are some things I already have or eventually might write such a fake blog post about:
Often I don’t actually finish these posts, but go through a couple of quick writing sessions and find that already sufficient to identify a decent solution and get myself unstuck enough to actually implement it.
Next Steps
If this sounds like the kind of thing that might potentially work for you and you've never tried it before, I’d suggest to now spend two minutes and do the following: