Our tendency is to move toward obvious solutions as fast as possible.

And there are times when this is likely the best course of action. If your house is flooding because of a broken pipe, find and isolate the source and turn off the water. Mitigate the damage. Clean up the mess. Replace the broken pipe.

Easy.

But most of the problems we are being asked to solve in our world are not so straightforward. We provide value when we spend time tackling complex problems. Systemic problems. And while moving to quick solutions is intuitive, complex problem solving is more about counter-intuition. Asking better questions and spending the time required to understand causation. 

Not easy.

Sometimes, when we’ve done the difficult, counterintuitive work of “not easy” (thinking, questioning, understanding), we find the answer is as “easy” as fixing a broken pipe.

It’s not always necessary to understand “why” to dig up the solution to a problem.

But it helps.

Complex problem-solving requires the hard work of deep work. (I highly recommend this book. It’s important.)