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The Solution You Keep Walking Past
Obvious Adams was an insurance agent who became a business leader. Not through brilliance. Through noticing what others ignored.
Most people solve problems by layering on more. More research. More frameworks. More complexity. Adams did the opposite. He looked at what sat right in front of him and moved on it.
The pattern: common sense beats clever every time.
Here's the system:
First, observe without assumption. Notice the facts people treat as background noise.
Second, separate signal from static. What you think you know might just be what you've been told.
Third, focus on the customer. What do they actually need? Not what sounds strategic in a meeting.
Fourth, spot the obvious move. The one that's simple and works.
Fifth, act before you're ready. Waiting for perfect clarity is just fear in disguise.
The trap most people fall into:
Overthinking freezes you. Or worse, it pulls you toward complexity because that feels more legitimate.
The fix:
Trust what's clear. Cut what isn't. Respond to reality, not theory.
Adams saw insurance agents piling into cities. Small towns had zero competition. He went where the gap was staring at him. Built from there.
Another example: a company wanted better customer service. They planned new software, new workflows, more infrastructure. Adams said train your people to listen and answer clearly. Done. The fancy solution missed what was already obvious.
You see this pattern everywhere. The data exists. The customer tells you what they want. The bottleneck is visible. But people walk past it because it seems too basic to be the answer.
It's always the answer.
Do this today:
Spend 15 minutes observing one situation at work.
Write what's obvious but ignored. Note the assumptions being made. List one way to simplify or serve your customer more directly. Pick the clearest fix and test it this week.
Ask yourself:
What obvious truth are you skipping over because it feels too simple to matter?
Insight to Action
Get the Tools to Turn Ideas into Action: A practical guide to overcoming procrastination, perfectionism, and self-doubt
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