1. any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.
2. a question proposed for solution or discussion.
3. Mathematics. a statement requiring a solution, usually by means of a mathematical operation or geometric construction.

I believe that there are those people in life who love solving problems, and there are those who don’t. Some people love a mystery. They enjoy the question of whodunnit. They want to figure things out for themselves, all the way down to the last little bit. For these people, solving the problem is gratifying.

Not me.

I want the pieces so I can do something. I want to do something more than what’s been done before. I don’t want to answer the question “why?” I want to answer the question “what if?” I want to think more about what something will look like if you do THIS to it. Or what could you get out of your team’s efforts if you gave them THESE tools.

I think problem solvers are wonderful people. I think they’re necessary people. Cancer will possibly be cured by a problem solver. World hunger will maybe be solved by such a person. All life’s remaining mysteries might be put to definitive answers by problem solvers.

And yet.

And yet, I’m pretty much set on thinking along the lines of “What if?” It’s what I do. I wonder and muse and poke around the curiosities piles of life, not ever wondering where things came from, but thinking about how we might do X in such a way that might be interesting.

This gets me into weird conflicts with the world at times. Because, and you can stop me if I’m wrong, I think the world wants us to be problem solvers, for the most part. The clean plate club? Problem solvers. Get A’s in school? Problems. Stay out of trouble? Simple problem to solve, right?

Sorry, everyone. I’m not built to solve problems, even when this very fact causes me problems. I’m over here speculating and thinking and musing things forward. I can fake anything, just like how I learned to play music by ear so I could be in State band. Had nothing to do with skill or solving the problem of reading sheet music. I just figured out what would happen if I guessed enough times the right way.

Nothing earth shattering here, and yet, it’s something to consider in the larger scale of what we do in a given day.

Which one are you?

Photo credit, Guillermo Ruiz de Loizaga