Are You Focusing on the Problem or the Solution?
He who made me mad taught me something great.
There were times when I thought going to university was inefficient. Because all systems — including that of education — are often “one-size-fits-all”. Hence, some of us fit in well and thrive, while some are left behind.
But there were also times when I cherished this stage of life I was blessed with. Not because of the knowledge acquired within the classroom, but far beyond it.
How you handle difficult projects.
How you lead a disciplined life when no one is watching.
How you interact with people and build relationships that last forever.
These are lessons you never see in the learning outcomes of a university program, but lessons that — in my opinion — matter so much more.
This story is about one of them.
🙂 I was mad
My third year as a chemical and environmental engineering student started with a bang. Bang-ed by an engineering design project called DPX.
(D)esign (P)roject. Get it?
As for the X, I have no idea what it means. It's probably there to make it sound cooler. But I'm starting to think it might have meant e(X)treme or something.
Nice try, professors.
Each team was assigned an acid to produce. Not literally, but as though you were real engineers tasked with designing an acid manufacturing plant in real life.
Process synthesis, market analysis, site studies, equipment design, process control, heat integration, etc. A bunch of work that made me believe that X indeed stands for "extreme".
Along the way, a teammate made a terrible mistake. For the lack of better words, a mistake that “pissed me off greatly”.
Imagine mediocre writing that needed intense quality control (QC), i.e., rewriting. Imagine going to a meeting and playing games on the phone. Imagine doing literature studies about using benzoic acid to produce something else when the assignment was to produce benzoic acid.
Do they justify my choice of words, "pissed me off greatly" now?
I was mad. My team lead knew that.
He tried to resolve it by organizing QC sessions to guide that friend in fixing the work live.
Yet I was still upset. Not at my team lead, but at the fact that the work needed intense QC in the first place. It took up time and resources that would have been better spent elsewhere.
I vented my frustration at the team lead, arguing that the problem existing in the first place was the problem itself.
Why do such people exist?
Why must we suffer from their existence?
My team lead acknowledged it. He saw what I saw. He felt how I felt.
Still, he went back to ensuring the QC was done and the work was submitted on time.
👁️ Did you see it?
Did you see what I was highlighting here?
I was mad, and I believe my team lead felt the same.
However, one thing sets us apart — our approach to the problem.
I was focusing on the problem, while he was focusing on the solution.
When writing this story, I reflected on my approach.
Was I wrong?
No. Not entirely.
There is nothing wrong with looking at a problem and feeling upset about it. For I — like you — am a human capable of emotions and shall remain one for the rest of my life.
But what I did wrong was being too engrossed with the problem.
We have all heard of "prevention is better than cure". Being fixated on a problem is along the line of "prevention". You analyze it to figure out why it has come to be, as to prevent it from happening next time.
But when shit has already happened, you really should solve it first before thinking about preventing it.
Did you get what I mean?
My team lead did well in this. He was one step ahead — acknowledged the problem, then put the emotions aside to focus on solving it first, before coming back to review why it happened and how to prevent it next time.
To me, it was admirable.
🪴Takeaway
If you have a flat tyre, you may react with frustration. It’s also a natural tendency to wonder why it happened in the first place.
Was it a nail? Did someone sabotage you?
But focusing on the problem now — the flat tyre and not being able to drive — won’t get you anywhere. The only way out is to focus on the solution first — changing the flat tyre.
In the end, our problem was resolved, albeit with struggles.
Since then, I learned that this friend who "pissed me off greatly" wasn't the right person to be responsible for writing. As such, in the latter part of the project — which we’re working on now — he was assigned to what he does better.
It was another lesson to know what someone is good at, and let him/her shine.
This is prevention. Here, “prevention is better than cure” is right. Because you are now analyzing the problem retrospectively. You are focusing on the solved problem to prevent it from happening again.
But when the problem is yet to be solved, it helps to focus on the immediate cure — solving it — and leave the post-mortem to a later date.
Which are you focusing on now?
—Thomas🦙
👋 Hey, you little stranger
Although I missed the deadline by a day, I’m glad to publish today, especially during a period when work piles up and deadlines loom.
May we do well in these trying times.
See you next week!
🏆 Weekly gold
Each week, I share something I found interesting with you. It could be a song, a book, a quote, or a video that blew my mind. Here’s the gold this week 👇
Since this week’s story mentioned anger, I revisited this story from a year ago. I often found myself remembering it whenever I was upset about something unfair someone seemingly did.
It calms the mind, letting the anger subside while allowing empathy to seep in and preventing you from overreacting.
Hope it helps you, too.
🎁 Credits
Sebastian Huxley on Unsplash — cover photo.
He who “pissed me off greatly” — content idea.
My team lead — for teaching a valuable lesson.
Going to university — for making this possible.