Figuring Things Out

Source: Scott Young website, Nov 2015

Some people are good at figuring things out. You can give them a goal, sometimes with ambiguous instructions or constraints, and they will find a way to do it. It may not always be the way you envisioned (especially if your instructions are bad) but these people rarely get stuck. They will find some way to figure it out.

People who are good at figuring things out for their bosses are generally even better at figuring things out for themselves. They make good entrepreneurs, inventors, researchers and artists.

… figuring things out is a lot more than intelligence. It’s also a perspective on life.

Being good at figuring things out is a skill in opposition to scholastic skills. It’s the ability to work within environments where the constraints and standards of success are often ill-defined. It’s the ability to remain motivated despite the fact that there is no standards of fairness at all.

If you want to get better at figuring things out, here’s how to do it:

1. Do More Projects that Require Figuring Things Out
2. Become Patient in the Face of Frustration
3. Avoid Environments Which Punish Deviating from Exact Instructions