Principle #21 – Don’t get stuck addressing symptoms.
Quick fixes feel good, don’t they? A problem pops up, you swoop in, and—boom—issue resolved. Cue the hero music. But then it pops up again. And again. That’s not hero work; that’s hamster wheel work.
When we only treat symptoms, we accidentally feed the problem. We create workarounds that become permanent, and then we’re shocked when the problem keeps coming back wearing a different hat.
Quick fixes are like duct tape on a leaky pipe: temporary, messy, and one bad day away from a flood.
The Hero’s Move
- Pause before “fixing”: Ask why this keeps happening—at least three times.
- Look for patterns, not one-offs: If it feels repetitive, it probably is.
- Get more perspectives: People closer to the work often see the real cause faster.
Root-cause thinking feels slower, but it saves you from solving the same problem five more times.
The Next Step
Take one recurring issue this week and resist the urge to “just patch it.” Spend an hour digging deeper: What’s really broken? How do we fix it for good?
Because quick fixes don’t solve problems. They train them to come back stronger.