#078: Did Einstein Really Say This?

Albert Einstein supposedly said "If I had to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem, and five minutes thinking about the solutions." 

It's an interesting quote that has become popular over the years, and it's easy to see why. It sounds smart. And Einstein invented the theory of relativity, so who's to argue with him?

But did he really say that? In this episode, I share my findings on this question.

I also explore the idea of how long you should spend brainstorming vs. doing.

The idea behind the quote is that you should spend more time thinking about the problem than the solution. But is this really the best approach to problem-solving? In my opinion, it depends on how you define "thinking about the problem."

Sometimes when we face a problem, we spend a lot of time worrying about it or imagining all the ways it could go wrong.

In these cases, it's not a good use of our time to spend the majority of it thinking about the problem. Instead, we need to shift our focus to what could go right and spend time visualizing the positive outcome we want to achieve.

For example, if I were trying to solve a problem like a meteor heading towards Earth (the example often associated with this quote), I might spend 20 minutes visualizing what it would look and feel like if the solution worked, another 20 minutes brainstorming and analyzing the problem, and the final 20 minutes taking action to solve it.

While I'm no Einstein, I believe that this approach is a more effective way of problem-solving than spending a disproportionate amount of time thinking about the problem.

By shifting our focus to what we want to achieve, we can set ourselves up for success and increase our chances of finding the right solution.

As always, thanks for listening.

For more on this quote, check out THIS BLOG on the subject.

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