Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies for Giant Leaps in Work and Life

by Ozan Varol

Because of the differences between idea generation and idea evaluation, many authors separate their drafting from their editing. Drafting is better suited for divergent thinking, and editing for convergent.

When we immediately launch into answer mode, we end up chasing the wrong problem. When we rush to identify solutions—when we fall in love with our diagnosis—our initial answer hides better ones lurking in plain sight. When the sentence is announced first, the verdict is always the same: guilty.

THE NEXT TIME you’re tempted to engage in problem solving, try problem finding instead. Ask yourself, Am I asking the right question? If I changed my perspective, how would the problem change? How can I frame the question in terms of strategy, instead of tactics? How do I flip the thumbtack box and view this resource in terms of its form, not its function? What if we did the reverse? Breakthroughs, contrary to popular wisdom, don’t begin with a smart answer. They begin with a smart question.

Robert Pirsig writes. “The truth knocks on the door and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away.”4

THERE’S A DIFFERENCE, as Morpheus said, between knowing the path and walking the path.

We conduct tests—not to prove ourselves wrong, but to confirm what we believe is true. We tweak the testing conditions or interpret ambiguous outcomes to confirm our preconceptions.