There is Never "A" Solution

When the world shut down and my team and I went into lockdown we needed to shift the way in which we worked:

• Communication with students and each other
• Events
• Meetings
• Processed paperwork

The nature of everything we did shifted and more or less turned it upside down. I was asked on many occasions:

• How is this going to work?
• What is the process going to look like?
• What tools are we going to use?
• Is there training on this?
• How do we do our work in this new arena?

To most of those questions my answer was, “I don’t know.” I have never been through a pandemic or a massive shift to online work. I had never used many of the tools we learned to use to organize a remote team. All I knew was that we were going to have to do it and I’d keep trying until we figured it out.

But even when I have an idea of how something is going to turn out there are still a million variables that can turn it around and make what otherwise would have been a success, a failure.

There is no guarantee.

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

• - Benjamin Franklin

This prospect, especially when there has been proper training can be stymieing. It can be discouraging to not know how things will turn out or if the method we have in place is going to work. If it’s not going to work then why do it at all?

This is the sentiment behind the adage “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. And where ignorance can become a superpower.

The best solution I have found to combat against the discouragement of the unknown is focus on process instead of results. My process is really the only thing I have control over. The most helpful part of the process is pivoting.

Over the past few years the real success I have experienced has come from my ability to take current information and respond to it by pivoting away from my original plan.

A few years ago a friend of mine and I ran a Kickstarter for the cologne company Musk & Hustle. We knew within the first few days that we weren’t going to make our funding goal. At that point we had two options:

1. Give up on the idea and try something else
2. Change tactic and try again

We opted for the latter and while the second kickstarter didn’t have the funding we were originally hoping for we did get funded and were able to move forward with next steps in the business.

Developing the skill to pivot start with knowing there will never be “a” solution.