Problems.

I’ve got many, but the one I’m dealing with at the moment is with briefs. The Briefs, the ones I’m working on.

Sometimes after reading a brief the solution seems obvious, but those ideas usually don’t stand up to scrutiny. The better ones are not as frequent as I’d like, and before I know it I’m fatigued from working on a brief that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

Usually, I’m quite good at keeping problems in the back of my head and letting them simmer, but lately it feels like what’s in there are lukewarm chunky briefs, not clean­cut problems that low­intensity brain processes can nibble away at. The result is something that might be likened to brain­constipation – a state where there are too many detailed problems trying to connect to a solution, so that nothing useful comes out.

I know it’s important to put the problem in right to get the right solution out, but I think I may have left the ‘problem­creation’ step of my ‘process’ on the back burner a little too long.

I’ve decided to start a new habit: in the mornings I usually check the schedule, mentors, and read SCABs. Then I read news, get distracted, and start wasting time. “Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t waste time in the mornings looking at recycled memes and predictable fail­gifs?” Why yes it would!

This is what I’ll do:
I’m going to add problems. (Hear me out.)

I put homemade 16­word briefs into a ‘Problems’ doc. Every morning I read them all, in the hopes that regularly putting in short, concise problems will keep my subconscious problem­solving process. I promise to do this; now it’s in writing, and even if just one person reads this, I’ll convince myself they’re going to hold me to it. The End.