# That's Not Problem-Solving By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-01-24 Sometimes things don't add up. The solution seems to allude your best efforts, and you can't discover the essential insight. When you reach this point, you've truly encountered the challenges of complex problem-solving. If you've never gotten stuck and "solution development" is just a matter of "project management," you aren't really problem-solving. You are just optimizing the status quo, getting your piece of the pie, pointing out problems, and going through the systemic motions of the organization. Rarely are we solving problems. Rarely are we creating. Rarely are we developing as adults. Rarely are we caring beyond what is in front of us. If you aren't running into paradoxes and getting stuck with no good answers, you aren't making progress or solving problems. Perhaps what you are working on isn't challenging enough, or you are just tired from rolling the stone up the hill at work. But, make no mistake about it, real problem-solving is hard, really hard. Everything else is status quo and standing on the shoulder of giants who came before you. Nothing wrong with it, but you'll never achieve anything higher or more meaningful. #### Related Items [[Problem Solving]] [[Complex Systems]] [[Optimizing the Status Quo]]