Understand the problem before aiming towards a solution
Of course, this really is quite common sense. But what do you do when the heat is on, when the stress seems to overpower you? I tell you what I (unfortunately) mostly do (since I can’t speak for you 
): I try to get rid of each problem as fast as I can ’cause it seems to be the “best”, time-saving idea. Sometimes this approach produces good results, sometimes it fails miserably. “Well, that’s life”, might be the first thought, “you can’t be right all the time”. I don’t agree. As a logical-thinking person (due to my field of study) I’m like crazy to understand the problem in depth, to see the underlying principle of cause and effect 
.
Let me give you an example: Assume you have trouble with your job. You like it, it’s not bad, but… somewhere deep down in you, you feel a little uncomfortable and unsatisfied. But why? It could be the time for you for a career change since your interests have changed. Or you might have problems with your co-workers, your boss. Or you are in trouble with your significant other, you might struggle with the law, …
You get the picture? The first answer (the career changing opportunity) seems to be quite right in most cases, so why not stick with it and believe it? What’s the problem with this answer? First of all: Nothing’s wrong with it! What’s wrong is the question itself since it tries to present a solution before you know what the nature of the underlying problem might be. It does not suffice to ask for the solution first. There is no fast-track to a reasonable answer.
So, what should I do?
If you are familiar with the GTD-methodology you already know it: You should do an (unrestricted) mind sweep. The term “mind sweep” should be rather self-explanatory: Write all the thoughts, spinning around in your head, down and process it later. Processing means (if you don’t familiar with GTD) to extract the hidden actions from your notes. But that’s not our objective. For a more sophisticated introduction into “the art of GTD” I recommend 43 folders. Merlin’s awesome…
Back to the topic. I also emphasized that the mind sweep should be an unrestricted one. By this I mean that you should never interpret or judge your upcoming thoughts; just write ‘em down and come to them afterwards. If you internally cut back on your ideas, you’ll probably miss something to complete the whole picture. Even notes which seem irrelevant in the first place can become valuable later.
A conclusion
Before tackling the problem and get trapped by accepting the first appealing answer step back and make an unrestricted mind sweep. You don’t have to do it in one block, so take the time it need to collect all the thoughts in your head according to your problem. Everything. Only if you are sure you’ve got the whole dump you should start to process the whole stuff. Try to find pattern, connections between the notes you’ve taken. Now it’s time to interpret what you’ve written down and make conclusions ’cause you now can build your conclusion on a wide basis.
