Ever feel stuck? Like there’s a giant chasm between where you are right now and where you want to be? We all do. And often, we treat this gap as a monumental, insurmountable “problem.” But what if I told you that this intimidating ‘problem’ isn’t a challenge at all, but rather… just an equation?

The Universal Problem-Solving Formula: It’s Simpler Than You Think
Forget the stress, the endless worrying, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. When you strip away all the negative baggage we associate with the word ‘problem,’ you’re left with pure, unadulterated math:
A problem is the difference between where you are and where you want to be.

Problem = Future – Current.

That’s all.

The beauty of seeing it this way is that it immediately becomes something we can look at, analyze, and, most importantly, solve. Just like a fire brigade doesn’t wonder if a fire is a ‘challenge’ – they know it’s something to be quantified, named, and extinguished.

The Three Pillars of Real Problem-Solving:
Before you jump into solutions, you need to understand three crucial elements:

 * Where you are now: This is your “Current” state. What’s the reality on the ground?
 * Where you want to be: This is your “Future” state. What’s your desired outcome?
 * What’s causing the gap? This is the heart of the matter – why aren’t you where you want to be?

Most of us, even before extensive research, have a pretty good idea of what the ‘problem’ is. But here’s the catch: sometimes our initial assumptions are off, leading us down rabbit holes that don’t get to the real root cause. That’s why professional problem-solvers use tools like RCA, 5 WHY , 5W1H, and WWBLA. These aren’t just fancy acronyms; they’re designed to dig deep and unearth the true source of the issue. There should be a law to prevent trying to solve a problem without these tools, but even if you use them, something even more important for finding the root cause is how you handle the answers.

The Power of “Why?”: Unlocking Deeper Understanding
What makes the difference in looking for the root cause of a problem is… Sincere wondering.
In the dictionary, ‘to wonder’ is described as ‘to express a wish to know about something.’
This characteristic is often attributed to children, for whom everything is still new, and it’s the reason why they go ‘on an adventure.’ There’s a reason why they ask ‘Why?’ so much: they truly want to know what happens in the world around them.
There’s a Dutch proverb which loosely translates to ‘Don’t be surprised, be amazed.’ It’s an invitation to see something new (a cause of the problem) in a positive way, instead of leaning back in surprise. And that’s exactly what we’re looking for: to spark genuine curiosity to discover something new so that it becomes fun to continue our search. The key to finding the root cause of why something doesn’t go the way we expected is asking ‘Why?’ and being amazed by the answer, challenging that answer, and then asking ‘Why?’ again.
If you feel you want to answer, ‘We’ve always done it this way,’ or ‘This isn’t important,’ you’ll need to find another way to spark curiosity. After all, if the real cause were known, there would be a smaller difference between your future state and your current state.

The key to this is: don’t try to find the root cause alone. Instead, find people who know a lot about the problem and ensure there’s a curious person in the room. Usually, that’s the youngest hire or the person furthest from the problem. Sometimes, it might even be good to ask someone from outside your company.

The Bottom Line: Be Amazed About Your Problem
When you take away the negative feelings that come with the word ‘problem’ and use the equation to make your problem bite-sized, the only thing between where you are and where you want to be is asking the right questions and sparking genuine curiosity to be amazed by what you can come up with to solve it.

It’s not the tools, but how you use them!