There is a strange relationship between solutions and problems.

We expect that our analysis of a problem leads to a solution.

We are wired to look for solutions and will often take the one that appears first. Quite often, what happens, is that we’ve fallen in love with a solution and make sure that the problem fits in. We thus can find ourselves with a solution that has no problem.

This is usually the case when after applying the solution we’ve found the same old problem reappears.

Seeing the problem from the perspective of the person experiencing the problem isn’t easy. It requires the ability to see the world from that person’s perspective.

It is even more complicated when we have a solution at hand, one that we perceive as useful as it solves a problem we’ve recognized. Once we’ve recognized a problem, it feels as if that problem is relevant to everyone. It’s the moment in which we see how important our help is for the world. We’ve developed a mission for ourselves, a way to heal others.

We then set out to help people with the solution we’ve devised as we know that they have the problem we’ve identified.

After a while we find ourselves astonished that it doesn’t work or frustrated that nobody understands us or how valuable our solution is for them.

It’s important to see the worth of our work, to believe in ourselves.

It doesn’t prevent us from working hard to be able to see the world from the perspective of those we seek to serve. Seeing the problems they see and experience tells us a story. The story of how they want to be served. It’s usually a different story from the one we tell ourselves about how we want to help them.

Our solution might still fit.

It’s only then, that we’ll know why.

That’s a very different way to help.