When analyzing a complex situation with too many rapidly changing time and event variables it is often easy to get distracted and get caught up in little things while losing sight of really important one's. How do we make sure that we are focusing on the right things and not wasting our time on trivial things specifically when we are dealing with something complex and important. One technique that is useful in such situations is to look for the "million dollar question" in the problem we are attempting to solve.
What is a million dollar question?
A million dollar question is the most crucial, most important part of the puzzle. Getting an answer to this question will solve most of the problem and give the greatest chance of success. Let's take a simple example. Say you want to buy a home. There are so many things you need to figure out example location, number of rooms, builder, whose name should the house be on, which society, water, electricity, and other basic convenience, proximity to schools, healthcare, premium features like club house, etc etc but what is the million dollar question here? Do you have the necessary financial arrangement to buy the house or not. If you have figured this out then you can sort out everything else. If you have not figured out the financial arrangements then it doesn't matter if you have sorted everything else out. You still cannot own a home. So your million dollar question here is if you have the necessary financial arrangements in place to buy a home or not? It is not always about money. For example choosing a school for your kids will have a completely different set of variables and a completely different million dollar question associated with the decision along with several other small distractions.
Solve the biggest part of the puzzle first or fail fast
But the key here is to understand this. Whenever working on a complex thing, we need to figure out what is that most important thing that I need to ask and solve first and worry about the rest later. Easier said than done. The million dollar question almost always is not as straightforward as the other smaller parts of the puzzle and as humans we tend to try to solve the easiest problems first and deal with the difficult one's later until it cannot be delayed any further. The problem being if later at the last moment you are unable to solve the biggest block of the puzzle then all the effort and time spent solving the smaller one's go waste and we have setup ourselves for a royal failure.
On the other hand if we solve the million dollar question first then our chances of success increases dramatically. If not, then we simply fail fast and move on with other options.
Just keep in mind
Nothing new in this blog. This theory of attacking the hardest and most important problems first has been discussed & taught in almost every training but the only difficult part is practicing the theory. For me it is just easier to remember & practice it by looking for the "million dollar question" in every complex problem I am working with. Maybe I understand things better if you associate a concept with money for me, especially a million dollars :) So give it a try !
What is a million dollar question?
A million dollar question is the most crucial, most important part of the puzzle. Getting an answer to this question will solve most of the problem and give the greatest chance of success. Let's take a simple example. Say you want to buy a home. There are so many things you need to figure out example location, number of rooms, builder, whose name should the house be on, which society, water, electricity, and other basic convenience, proximity to schools, healthcare, premium features like club house, etc etc but what is the million dollar question here? Do you have the necessary financial arrangement to buy the house or not. If you have figured this out then you can sort out everything else. If you have not figured out the financial arrangements then it doesn't matter if you have sorted everything else out. You still cannot own a home. So your million dollar question here is if you have the necessary financial arrangements in place to buy a home or not? It is not always about money. For example choosing a school for your kids will have a completely different set of variables and a completely different million dollar question associated with the decision along with several other small distractions.
Solve the biggest part of the puzzle first or fail fast
But the key here is to understand this. Whenever working on a complex thing, we need to figure out what is that most important thing that I need to ask and solve first and worry about the rest later. Easier said than done. The million dollar question almost always is not as straightforward as the other smaller parts of the puzzle and as humans we tend to try to solve the easiest problems first and deal with the difficult one's later until it cannot be delayed any further. The problem being if later at the last moment you are unable to solve the biggest block of the puzzle then all the effort and time spent solving the smaller one's go waste and we have setup ourselves for a royal failure.
On the other hand if we solve the million dollar question first then our chances of success increases dramatically. If not, then we simply fail fast and move on with other options.
Just keep in mind
Nothing new in this blog. This theory of attacking the hardest and most important problems first has been discussed & taught in almost every training but the only difficult part is practicing the theory. For me it is just easier to remember & practice it by looking for the "million dollar question" in every complex problem I am working with. Maybe I understand things better if you associate a concept with money for me, especially a million dollars :) So give it a try !
for me million $ is the question :( once i have it will try to find some answers around it :)
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