I have a running joke with a client who once asked how I get up at 5am.
The answer is fairly easy – set an alarm.
When I asked why they wanted to wake up at 5am, they said it was to get back into shape.
To which I responded, well if that’s what you want, I would have asked how to do that first because my immediate answer wouldn’t have been, “You’ve got to start waking up at 5am!”
Now whenever a problem is raised by first asking how to do a specific solution, we joke that it’s like wanting to know how to get up at 5am.
Whenever you want to work through a problem with someone, first address the problem clearly, and then explain the options you’re considering before inviting feedback. This way the feedback you’ll receive will be most relevant to what you actually want to achieve.
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