1. Don’t be fooled by superficial phenomena

The patient walks into the office and tells the doctor that he has the flu. He would tell the doctor about his symptoms: scratchy throat, headache, runny nose. The doctor will not immediately believe the patient's conclusion. She will look at the medical records and ask some probing questions before making a diagnosis. The patient may have the flu, a cold, or something more serious. In any case, doctors do not rely solely on the patient's conclusions to make a diagnosis.

To paraphrase a famous saying on Zhihu: If you don’t ask whether it is right or not, just asking why or what to do is a hooliganism.

2. Use the experience of your predecessors and avoid duplicating work (do not reinvent the wheel)

No matter what problem you encounter, there may be someone somewhere who has already conducted research on a similar problem. . Time is precious, don’t waste it doing what others have already done, there is no point in reinventing the wheel.

3. Avoid sameness

Business problems have similarities, but this does not mean that they should adopt similar solutions. Solutions should be based on fact-based analysis. Don’t look at every problem as a nail just because you only have a hammer.

4. Don’t look for facts to support your proposal

No matter how brilliant, insightful, and unique you think your initial hypothesis is, you must always be prepared to be proven wrong. fact. If your initial assumptions turn out to be wrong, make adjustments based on the facts. Don't mash facts into your structural framework.

5. Make sure the solution is suitable for your customers

No matter how good a solution seems, it is of no use if your customers/you cannot implement it.

6. The 28/20 principle

Put time and energy on important things. You have to know that 80% of your results come from 20% of your time/energy.

7. Don’t try to burn the sea dry

To burn the sea dry is to try to analyze everything comprehensively. Be selective and prioritize the things at hand. When you've done enough, stop. Otherwise, you spend a lot of time and energy, but the result is not worth the gain, just like you burned the sea dry, but only got a little salt.

8. Find the key driving factors

There are many factors that affect one thing. We should focus on the most important ones, namely the key driving factors. Focusing on the key drivers means getting to the core of the problem, rather than tearing the entire problem into layers and pieces.

9. Elevator Rule

In everything, the results must be expressed clearly in the shortest possible time, and in everything, one must go straight to the topic and the result. For example, you are in an elevator and you only have 30 seconds to promote a product to a major customer who is related to the company's future and it must be successful.

10. Do one thing at a time

You can’t do everything, so don’t try.

11. Focus on the overall situation

Stop thinking and ask yourself a few basic questions: How does the work you are doing now help solve the problem? How does it advance thinking? Is what you are doing now the most important? If the work you're doing doesn't help the problem you're solving, why continue?

12. Tell the truth and be honest.

To put it simply, "I don't know because I don't know, but I know." If you don’t know or your current work is not progressing, the cost of admitting at this time is far less than the cost of bluffing. For example, if you are distracted in class and the teacher calls you up to ask what was just said, it is much better to admit that you were distracted at this time than to talk nonsense.

13. Don’t accept the answer “I have no idea”

As long as you explore a little, you will find that people always have ideas. If you ask someone a question about their industry and the answer is "I have no idea," don't just walk away. "I have no ideas" is a signal, and its subtext is "I'm too busy to answer your questions", or "I'm not smart enough to answer these questions of yours", or "I'm too lazy to think of them." Valuable answers”.