I’ve been telling people this for several years. The admonishment, for me, began with my work teaching Quality Improvement at Chevron. In that work we found, to no one’s surprise, that people often focus on the task - solving a problem - much more than on the process - understanding its causes (and planning solutions accordingly.)

Most of us in western culture can easily focus on solving a problem or removing a barrier. After all, we know what’s wrong - just fix it! As all of us know from experience, the bias for action (a task focus) often leads to incomplete solutions, solutions that cause more problems (maybe ones worse than the original), solutions that don’t solve.

Go slow to go fast.

By taking time to focus on process - how we solve the problem - and using some sequence of steps that include understanding the causes of the problem often we achieve better results. The rub is that these steps may seem like they take a lot of time. In the moment, that time is often seen as wasted (”Let’s just solve the problem!”).

Go slow to go fast.

Several current happenings have coalesced recently to remind me of this saying (yes I hear myself telling others in my own voice!) On the flight from Chicago to Oakland recently, I was reading a book and put it down with nearly two hours remaining in the flight. This is very odd behavior for me, especially when I am truly enjoying the book. I put it

We hear a lot of talk about junk mail nowadays. Many people
will tell you that they dump it straight in the trash. But
why do you think so many organisations send out so called
junk mail - because it works!

I dump most of my junk mail just like everyone else, but
every so often I’m attracted and respond to something that
comes through the mail.
Whatever it is, grabs my interest just at the right time.
Sometimes it’s a mailing I’ve seen several times and I’ve
been slightly interested; however, there comes a time when I
decide to do something about it.

Research has shown that, on average, people need to see an
advertisement seven times before they respond - it’s the
same with direct mail.

I’m not looking for a new credit card at present; however
there are thousands of people who are. These people will
respond to a credit card company mailing because they want a
new card with a better interest rate or because their other
card is at its limit or they want to transfer a balance.

It has to be said that the average response rate for direct
mailing is less than 1% and as you’ll appreciate, the large
organisations send out millions of direct mailers.
Small to medium sized businesses can have success with
direct mailing by keeping it small, focussed and personal.

Target the right people - You need to have a good mailing
list. The best one you can have is the one you’ve built
yourself. You build it with all the contacts you make from
your networking and all the enquiry phone calls you receive.
(If

Debt consolidation versus debt negotiation are two options that are available to you if you need debt assistance. When your monthly bills become too much for you to handle, it makes sense to use debt consolidation or debt negotiation for solving debt and credit problems.

Debt Consolidation

Debt consolidation services have prearranged debt repayment plans with most credit card and collection companies. When you sign up with a debt consolidation company you are offered a lower overall monthly payment based on a lower interest rate they have arranged with the creditor.

This payment is lower than what the credit card companies offer you, saves you money every month and is often the best way to consolidate debt.

One benefit of a debt consolidation repayment plan is it will stop you from getting harassed by your creditors as long as you make the new, lower monthly payments.

The downside of the debt consolidation repayment plan is that you have to cancel all credit cards that you include in the plan. You are also charged your first payment you make toward the program and an additional monthly administration fee. This administration fee ranges from flat fees of $10-$50, while others charge a $5 fee for each creditor. That means you’ll pay about $30 a month that doesn’t go to paying off your debts.

The debt consolidation program benefits you if you have high interest rates or have higher credit card bills than you can manage. Some people like to make only one payment to one company for all