🔥 Seeking Clarity No.2

Solving Problems, Being Earnest, and Honest Friendships 2.21.21

Sean Cheng

Feb 21

Photo by James Donovan on Unsplash

✅ What’s Inside:

Monthly Essay - How To Solve Hard Problems: Techniques For Tackling The Intractable.
What I’ve Been Reading - Article on why earnestness is a key indicator of startup success and a book on the writing techniques of the world’s most timeless authors.
Twitter Find of The Month - An insight into the value of honest friendships.

🔎 How To Solve Hard Problems

I’ve noticed something about the people I’ve most enjoyed working with.

They have a knack for solving hard problems.

They’ll send out emails, get on calls, go door to door if necessary to get stuff done.

Our livelihoods depend on our ability to problem-solve. If you can’t solve problems, you aren’t providing value. If you aren’t providing value, you don’t get paid. And if you don’t get paid? Well, I think you know where it goes from here.

By definition, solving hard problems is hard. That’s why entrepreneurs who create innovative solutions, engineers working on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, and elite neurosurgeons operating on the most challenging patients are compensated so well. We reward those who provide value to our lives. These individuals are difficult to replace and as a consequence, have more freedom to choose what they work on and who they work with.

While the specifics of how a problem gets solved varies by industry, the core principles remain the same. By mastering the mental models high performers use when they encounter challenging situations, you can take your work to the next level. This essay outlines these strategies.

Read The Rest

📚 What I’ve Been Reading

Earnestness - Essay on why genuine interest is often mistaken for naivete and nerdiness, and why it’s crucial for startup success.
The Elements of Eloquence - Book on the writing techniques of authors like Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. Focused primarily on rhetorical devices and sentence formation.