Defining Problem
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Introduction
Welcome to Defining Problem. It’s absolutely crucial to your success in business that you fully
understand the problem you’re trying to solve for your niche. So important. Probably the main
thing. In this video we’ll explore action items and tools you can use to truly understand the nature
of this problem, why it exists & all of its intricacies. The more work you put in here, the easier it
will be to find the right critical information to solve it!
What Are Problems? 🔨🚫
At first principle a problem is simply an obstacle.
Think of it like this: people find themselves in a current state and have a desired state. This
means there is ‘intentionality’ - a need for something in their life to be different.
What this means is that, without a goal or a desire (or a need), there is no problem. It’s just
what is. Only once you have a goal or need do you experience problems. Only by having a
goal or desire do you create problems. Problems don’t exist without desires or goals.
The desire/need/goal gives ‘birth’ to the problem. The problem then becomes the vehicle or
thing that needs to be done to achieve the goal. Think Ryan Holliday’s idea ‘the obstacle is
the way’. (Stoic philosophy).
A problem truly only exists if a human perceives it and cares to change it.
For example, rocks don’t have problems. Other animals do (need for food, water, shelter
etc), but we aren’t too worried about these.
So at first principle a problem is an obstacle to achieving a desired outcome.
Problems exist for one of two reasons:
1. The human doesn't know how to solve it (lack of information).
2. The human can’t solve it (lack of resources, time, constraints, resistance etc).
To be honest, it’s usually both. In both instances a consultant can help.
In order to solve a problem it must first be understood.
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Here’s what you need to understand about it to solve it properly:
1. Specifically, who in your niche experiences the problem? (what stage/maturity etc)
2. What actually is the problem (like, truly, really, is the issue)?
3. Where is this problem showing up in their life? (what are the symptoms)
4. When did this problem start? When does it finish?
5. Why does the problem exist in the first place (crucial)?
This is your classic ‘who, what, where, when & why’.
Only once you understand all of these can you start looking at ‘how’ to solve it.
Understand, Don’t Solve 🧠🧐
As we work through the rest of this video and doc/resources, I want you to keep the following
in mind:
Right now, we are just trying to understand the problem. We’re not trying to solve it yet.
Just seek to listen to the problem and find its ‘truth’. Don’t take a solution based lens yet and
don’t try to worry about solving it yet. All of that will come later. It’s really crucial you just seek
to understand, because the solution you create later is going to be heavily influenced by your
understanding.
If you try to solve and understand at the same time, you’re going to make a big mistake.
Think of it like this: a female friend of yours has come to you with a big relationship problem.
She’s in tears, crying, in pain, with a big problem. Naturally, as a guy (most of you are gonna
be guys watching this) your first instinct is to offer advice, start solving and finding a way to
‘fix’ the situation. There’s no issue wanting to do this, but what your friend needs right now is
for you to simply listen, understand and give her space to talk it out so she can figure it out
with you in the future. Also, if you try to jump to fixing and solving without all of the facts and
context, you’re gonna miss something or worse, make a big mistake.
So don’t try to solve it yet - just understand!!
© Imperium Acquisition - All rights reserved. Do not share, copy, reproduce or sell any part of this document unless you have written permission from Imperium Labs LTD. All infringements will be
prosecuted. If you are the personal owner of the Imperium Labs LTD End User Licence then you may use it for your own use but not for any other purpose.
Critical Questions Workbook ❓📜
Complete this workbook and all the questions in it to deepen your understanding of the
problem at hand here: Critical Questions Workbook .
Tools For Understanding 🔨🔭
In addition to answering critical questions, we can use a series of mental models & problem
solving tools to help us further understand the problem. You’ll need to get good as using all
of these if you want to become a serious entrepreneur. For now, I’m just going to give you
light introductions to all of them. I use these daily for everything in business, not just solving
the specific problem I tackle for clients.
1. Inversion: Tool: Inversion
2. Socratic Reasoning: Tool: Socratic Reasoning
3. First Principles: Tool: First Principles
4. Pareto Principle: Tool: Pareto Principle
5. Systems Thinking: Tool: Systems Thinking
6. Second Order Consequences: Tool: Second Order Consequences
7. Occams Razor: Tool: Occams Razor
8. Elimination: Tool: Elimination
Summary 📝
🔨🚫
🧠🧐
- What Are Problems?
❓📜
- Understand, Don’t Solve
🔨🔭
- Critical Questions Workbook
- Tools For Understanding
© Imperium Acquisition - All rights reserved. Do not share, copy, reproduce or sell any part of this document unless you have written permission from Imperium Labs LTD. All infringements will be
prosecuted. If you are the personal owner of the Imperium Labs LTD End User Licence then you may use it for your own use but not for any other purpose.