Flawed assumptions drive stuck thinking.

Testing assumptions and diagnosing a problem before fixing it can help avoid errors.

Holding on to inaccurate assumptions isn't a personal problem, but a human one.

Let me tell you a funny story. A few days ago, my 3-year-old told me she had a sore armpit.

I asked her some questions, concerned. I assumed she'd strained her lats hanging from the jungle gym, or something similar.

Then, she showed me her "armpit." She was showing the inside of her elbow, where she gets eczema that flares up periodically. Poor baby had a red patch that needed ointment.

But what was amusing was when I said to her, "Oh, it's your elbow," she kept insisting it was not her elbow that was sore. It was her armpit. She adamantly told me the pointy part was an elbow, and the part she was referring to was most definitely her armpit. Her explanation was smart; it just didn't match my terminology.

Why am I telling this story? Because it illustrates one of the fundamental root causes of stuck thinking. We try to solve a problem based on an assumption of a reliable narrator.

Medical doctors, mechanics, and tech troubleshooters all face these types of scenarios often. The person we're trying to help is describing the problem accurately from their point of view. The professional could jump to assumptions that turn out not to be accurate or helpful if they don't rely on procedures specifically designed to avoid this, like the doctor who takes a full patient history.

This is a principle we need to keep in mind with whatever we're trying to........

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