The problem determines the solution, not what you’re good at, not what you want to do, not what you can do.
I wanted to follow up on a recent post, “You tell me what you do best. I’ll tell you what you do worst.”
When you have a problem to solve, only one thing determines the solution: the problem itself.
If you’re good at doing one thing, but another thing solves the problem, it doesn’t matter how well you do the other thing. Your skill may help solve the problem, but if it needs something else, you’ll need to do the other thing too.
Same with what you like. If you like doing something but the problem requires something else, it doesn’t matter how much you want to do what you want to do if you want to solve the problem.
If you want to get hired for a job, telling them what you do well or what you like doing won’t get you hired as effectively as asking them what problems they need solved and telling them your skills on those things.
If you want to sell someone something, telling potential customers how well it does what it does won’t sell it as well as learning what problems those potential customers need solved and describing how well it solves those problems.
If you want to figure out a solution, the most important place to look at is the problem — what doesn’t work, the relevant constraints, and so on.
What solves the problem solves the problem. Everything else leaves the problem unsolved, no matter how well you do it or how much you like doing it.
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