Defining the right problem is half the solution

When your relationship with your spouse is under pressure, a “changing the light bulb” moment might be shouting: ‘You do the dishes for once!’ However, saying: ‘Let’s go out for dinner and have some quality time’, might actually “put the plug in the socket”. No pun intended.

 

In work related situations, you will encounter lots of “light bulb changing” instead of “putting the plug in the socket”.

 

In The Netherlands we have a saying ‘Mopping while the tap water is running’.  Often, our problem solving is like that. When the water is up to our ankles, the instinctive solution is to find a way to get rid of the water. Although this is a fruitless task while the tap is still running, it can be the easy solution, the path of least resistance. Just keep on mopping and collecting your paychecks. When those around you see you mopping like crazy, they praise you for your commitment and hard work. If, however, they see you wandering around, looking for the tap, they might assume you are ignoring the problem. ‘Look pal! When the water is at our ankles, we start mopping. That is how we do it here and I’ve got the blisters to prove it!’

 

But since you are reading this, you are probably a socket plugger at heart. Let me praise you for that. In the end, socket pluggers are the ones who will change the world. And for you socket pluggers I have a tip: if you have it in you, the quickest way to the tap without interference from the light bulb changers, might actually be to mop your way towards it.