When we talk about starting a new project, that be a company, a hobby, a research, or study field, we often say that we're searching for "ideas". Searching for an idea is like getting an answer to a question we don't know. Ideas, alone, aren't fertile : they don't give matter to think about what's around them, as they are solution in theirselves. Instead of searching for ideas, we should learn how to find problems. Problems are more complex than ideas because they ask for more questions than plain ideas, thus, they can seem a bit overwhelming. But that's what's interesting. Richard Feynman once wrote in a letter about his problem-solving approach, that consist in always carrying a dozen (often talking about 12 problems) of his favorite problems in his mind to constantely analyse and connect situations to it, in order to find deeper and more consistant solutions to it. These problems can be found in your everyday life, in your worklife, can be atomic or broad, can be practical or philosophical. What's important to have in mind is that no problem is too small or too big to be address. Of course, the bigger it is, the more time, work and passion it'll need to be addressed. ## How to find problems? I think figuring out your fields of interest and extend questions about it, until you find problems that appear miningful to you and that you'd like to solve. It's like practicing the [Socratic method](Socratic%20method.md) with yourself. Once you're aware of the fields of interests you care about, ask yourself questions like - Why is this like this? - How can we make this better...? - Is there a better way of making this? - What are the relationships between these different parameters? - How do I/we change this? Now you that you think about those problems, what are your favorite? The one that matter to you, to your surroundings? Keep those in your mind to start collecting ideas that relate to these problems and that help solving them. That's what [digital gardening](Digital%20garden.md) is also about. ## References - [How to turn problems into a curiosity engine - Ness Lab](https://nesslabs.com/favorite-problems) - [12 favorite problems, pop writing & how to ask better questions - Julia Saxena](https://juliasaxena.com/12-favorite-problems-pop-writing-how-to-ask-better-questions/) - [Richard Feynman's Letter on What Problems to Solve - Fs](https://fs.blog/richard-feynman-what-problems-to-solve/)