3 Examples Of How Problem Framing Can Help Save Our Oceans
Updated: Jan 27, 2023
How can I save the oceans?
Well, that's a serious question, isn't it?
It's easy to become overwhelmed by such an enormous challenge with no boundaries, an endless scope, and an even greater range of possible solutions...
As Marty Neumeier says so well in his book 46 Rules of Genius:
"too much freedom can lead to mediocrity. Why? Because without boundaries, there's no incentive to break through them."
On the other hand, a specific, well-defined challenge with clear limitations is exciting, inspiring, and leads us to creative and innovative problem-solving.
When you're faced with problems and challenges that feel as though there's no way you can ever solve them, zoom in and reframe your challenge:
Place limitations on it.
Give it boundaries and rules based on your resources.
Put the challenge within your own context.
As you reframe and close in the walls around your challenge, your motivation and creative energy to overcome it will expand because you're no longer dealing with something impossible or unachievable.
Instead, you're staring at a challenge you CAN devise a solution for, square in the eye.
For example, if you zoom in and reframe the overwhelming challenge of 'How can I save the oceans', new, actionable and inspirational challenges emerge:
'How can my standup paddle expeditions be an educational tool to inspire others to care more for the oceans?'
or...
'What is the best way to use my annual ocean-impact budget of $10,000 to make a difference for my local beaches?'
or...
'How can we create more transparency around our operating process and share our ocean-positive behaviours with our audiences?'
By narrowing in and creating a tightly framed challenge, you're still tackling the more significant issue of wanting to save the oceans but doing so in an approachable and actionable way.
Now, instead of losing sleep over the state of our oceans or waiting until you have more resources, you can take immediate action to increase your positive ocean impact.
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"A tightly structured brief will generate energy; a wide-open one will drain it."
~ Marty Neumeier
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Want to learn more about problem framing as a tool for helping save our oceans? Book a discovery call.
