MSS #0185: Why Solving Problems In Your Head Rarely Works – And What To Do Instead

MSS #0185: Why Solving Problems In Your Head Rarely Works – And What To Do Instead

25 July, 2026

🕒Read time: 4.8 minutes

🚀 In a hurry? Jump to "The MOVE Method" for a reduced reading time of 2.5 minutes.

Have you ever noticed how some problems seem to get bigger the more you think about them?

You replay the conversation.

Analyse every possibility.

Consider every outcome.

Hours later you feel mentally exhausted.

Yet the problem often feels no closer to being solved.

Many of us assume that if we think for long enough, we will eventually find the answer.

Sometimes that's true.

But often our minds become trapped in a loop.

This week you'll learn why the brain isn't always the best place to solve complex problems and a simple technique that helps you think more clearly by working with your environment rather than inside your head.

Your Brain Was Never Designed To Be A Filing Cabinet

The human brain is remarkable.

It can recognise faces in milliseconds.

Recall memories from decades ago.

Generate ideas.

Imagine future possibilities.

Learn new skills.

But it has one important limitation.

It is not particularly good at holding lots of competing pieces of information in mind at the same time.

Psychologists often refer to this as the limits of working memory.

When we try to juggle multiple ideas, options and possible outcomes entirely in our heads, something interesting happens.

We begin recycling the same thoughts.

Not because there aren't better ideas.

But because the brain keeps retrieving the information that is already active.

The result is often mental traffic rather than mental progress.

Why Thinking Harder Isn't Always Thinking Better

Imagine trying to complete a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle without ever putting the pieces on the table.

Instead, you hold every piece in your hands.

You constantly swap them around.

Trying to remember which piece goes where.

Eventually you become overwhelmed.

Not because the puzzle is impossible.

But because you are asking your brain to do a job it was never designed to do.

Many of our problems work in exactly the same way.

We keep every option.

Every worry.

Every task.

Every possible consequence.

Locked inside our heads.

No wonder they begin to feel bigger than they really are.

Thinking With The World

Notice how often your best ideas arrive when you are no longer sitting still trying to think.

Perhaps when you are:

• Walking

• Showering

• Driving

• Gardening

• Talking with someone

• Writing in a notebook

Why?

Because you have changed the way your brain is working.

You have reduced the pressure on working memory.

You have created external cues.

You have given your mind something to interact with rather than simply something to remember.

Sometimes the solution wasn't missing.

It was hidden beneath mental overload.

The MOVE Method

When a problem starts going round and round in your mind, use the MOVE Method.

M – Make It Visible

Get the problem out of your head.

Write it down.

Draw it.

Create a simple list.

Use sticky notes.

Anything that allows your brain to stop carrying every piece of information.

O – Outside Your Head

Move the problem into the real world.

Examples:

• Talk it through with someone.

• Sketch a simple diagram.

• Record a voice note.

• Write the pros and cons.

• Explain the problem as if teaching somebody else.

Very often clarity appears because you can now see the problem rather than simply think about it.

V – View From A Different Angle

Ask yourself:

• What am I assuming?

• What information is missing?

• How would somebody else approach this?

• If this happened to a friend, what advice would I give?

• What is the next smallest step rather than the perfect solution?

Changing perspective often reveals options that were there all along.

E – Experiment

Do something small.

Send the email.

Make the phone call.

Test one idea.

Gather one new piece of information.

Action often teaches us more than another hour of thinking.

A Small Experiment

This week, notice the next time you find yourself thinking about the same problem for more than ten minutes.

Before thinking any longer, stop.

Use the MOVE Method.

Write everything down.

Move the problem into the real world.

View it differently.

Then take one small action.

Notice how often the problem becomes clearer once it no longer has to live entirely inside your head.

One Final Thought

We often believe that more thinking leads to better decisions.

Sometimes it does.

But after a certain point, more thinking simply means revisiting the same information from the same perspective.

The quality of our decisions depends less on how long we think and more on the quality of the information available.

Sometimes the fastest way to think more clearly is to stop trying to solve everything inside your head.

Summary

Our brains are brilliant at generating ideas.

They are less effective at storing, organising and evaluating many competing possibilities simultaneously.

The MOVE Method helps reduce mental overload by moving problems into the outside world where they become easier to understand and easier to solve.

Quick recap:

• Working memory has limits.

• Mental overload can hide good solutions.

• Writing reduces pressure on the brain.

• Talking often creates new insights.

• Different perspectives reveal new possibilities.

• Small actions create better information.

• Thinking with your environment is often more effective than thinking alone.

• Sometimes clarity comes from moving the problem rather than thinking about it harder.

See you next week. One more thought 👇

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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading, really hope this helped. Contact me if you think I can help you further at [email protected].

Happy thinking.