Why Can’t You Fix It Before You Understand It?

We live in a world that celebrates quick fixes and immediate solutions. Got a leak in your bathroom? YouTube has a thousand videos promising to show you how to fix it in five minutes. Struggling with procrastination and a lack of motivation? There’s a podcast for that, which promises foolproof tips to boost your productivity starting today.

But here’s the hard truth: You can’t fix a problem until you truly understand it. Rushing into solutions without taking the time for deeper analysis is like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. It might make you feel better in the moment, but it doesn’t solve the underlying issue.

I could give you many examples, but if you pause for 3 minutes, you can think of some quick fixes in your life.

As Tom Bateman puts it: “There is no decision that we can make that doesn’t have an upside and a downside. There are only bad decisions and decisions that were at least thought through.”

We all have a humbling lesson in asking “Why?” before acting. My failures have taught me the patience to investigate, research, and analyse before rushing into half-baked solutions.

Every problem we encounter, whether at work, at home, or in our personal lives, is like an iceberg. The part you can see above the surface barely scratches the complexity…