Stanford bioengineer Michael Fischbach likes to create problems – but not in the way you may think. Problem is a word that most people dread: a negative hindrance, a roadblock to progress. But in science, and for Fischbach, that’s not the case.

In the realm of research – and beyond – Fischbach says selecting a problem is the first step in working toward a solution. He values problems so much, in fact, that he and his mentor, the late Christopher T. Walsh, developed a framework and a course to help scientists and students find a good problem to work on – which can lead to optimal solutions.

“In every discipline, you find people who have good taste in problems. They work on things that are important, with great opportunities, that have tremendous impact. That’s treated as a rare trait,” said Fischbach. “But I wondered: How could you teach this to someone who didn’t know how to start?”

Below, Fischbach shares a simplified version of this framework, and how it could help anyone choose their next problem with care.

1. Spend more time

When figuring out what problem to work on, people are typically in a rush. But the course Fischbach teaches on this topic encourages students to take months to brainstorm. “It’s the main thesis, more than anything else. We should spend more time practicing and talking about and exercising this skill,” said Fischbach. People don’t automatically think optimally about approaching problems, so taking more time to strategize maximizes the chances that you’ll achieve your end goals.

Fischbach likens choosing a problem to a constant practice like yoga or meditation. And he’s found that the more time a person spends on selecting problems, the more they also develop the skills for coming up with the answers. He also reports that his students really value the slower process – partially because they’ve seen that haste really does make waste when it comes to graduate projects.

2. Use structure as a resource

Getting started can be a challenge if everything lives in your head. “You just have to put something concrete down, something on paper, which makes for good discussion. The one thing that doesn’t work is a blank piece of paper with no structure, because humans get paralyzed by a lack of structure,” said Fischbach. He compared setting these early boundaries to haiku – the rigid rules for a number of syllables and lines engenders creativity and resourcefulness.

3. Spark your inspiration

“There’s no one way to come up with an idea,” Fischbach said. But the prompts in his framework, called “intuition pumps” (from Daniel Dennett’s book Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking) are made to help guide people along the way.

These prompts include asking how to optimize a current process, imagining how to get from the current state of things to the future, and observing what works and what doesn’t work now. Fischbach said, “It almost doesn’t matter which you use, as long as it gets you thinking.”

4. Avoid the traps

When coming up with a problem, there are some pitfalls that Fischbach warns against – and these will likely sound familiar, even to nonscientists. His framework cautions people against choosing problems just because they’re easy, specializing so much that the problem is no longer useful, joining a trend too late, blaming external factors for issues you come across, and only copying the process of people you observe, rather than developing the actual process yourself.

Fischbach emphasized that conversation is an important part of the problem picking process because others may spot traps that the problem picker has missed.

5. Get comfortable with risk

High risk can lead to high reward. But the stakes may often seem too high when they’re tied to your success in a grad program or at work.

Fischbach acknowledged that and said, “I think sometimes you feel like you need to find something that is sure to succeed. But nothing worth doing has that profile – nothing in life. The more honest and useful thing to do is to just be open about what the risks are, and not only that, but to get very comfortable with them.”

Getting other people on board is easier that way too. If you develop a keen awareness of the risks involved with your process, you have better odds of convincing others that the risks are worth it.

6. Go for the goal

Problem picking is about trying to get to a solution and an end goal, but the journey there might take longer if you don’t keep your eye on the prize. Fischbach pointed to solutions for more niche problems, such as a staircase-climbing wheelchair, as a model for this. The developers of that tool created it for a subset of disabled people who it would be beneficial for, Fischbach says, rather than trying to make it have wide market appeal.

“You have to be very honest with yourself about what you’re solving for. If you get that wrong, you might make it hard for other people to understand why you’re doing what you’re doing,” said Fischbach. “So, ask yourself: What is your motivation? What are you aiming for? It’s easier for you to understand what you’re trying to do if you can articulate your goal.”

7. Keep the details flexible

Somewhat the opposite of setting constraints at the beginning of choosing a problem, once you have a goal in mind, embrace that there are a number of possible ways to get there. In the face of so many options, Fischbach recommends answering another question: What is your main focus? From there, allow some flexibility in how solutions evolve.

Take, for example, being interested in both artificial intelligence and climate change. You might move forward assuming that you should simply combine the two interests. But artificial intelligence may not be the right tool for the climate change issue you wanted to address. Forcing the connection between the two as your solution – rather than focusing on the main problem and keeping the approach to solving it flexible – may lead to getting stuck down the line.

8. Expect twists and turns

Much of the framework that Fischbach teaches is essentially about making the plan before you set out to solve anything. But it’s rarely so straightforward as following your plan from A to Z. “When you start out thinking that your original plan is going to unfold exactly, that is an illusion. There’s no real project I’ve seen that doesn’t go through some serious twists and turns,” said Fischbach.

Fortunately, Fischbach explained that in the planning process, people are actually choosing an ensemble of paths – and when you get knocked off one course, you usually have the ability to switch to a different path.

9. Do the “altitude dance”

As you journey from problem to solution, it can be hard to remember to zoom out every once in a while to make sure you’re navigating around roadblocks. That process is what Fischbach calls the altitude dance – being able to see the bigger picture and make adjustments in your everyday work to get there.

Fischbach said, “The original plan was made when you had less information and things hadn’t progressed. But the practice of anything is 90% doing and 10% switching to a different mode and updating your approach.”

The ability to cycle between active problem solving and evaluating that progress from a more removed perspective is what Fishbach considers the ultimate key to solving problems.

10. Face problems head on

In some martial arts, the practice of nonresistance helps redirect the energy of an opponent. Rather than resisting the move or running away, you allow the opponent to approach and then use their own energy to flip them. Fischbach thinks this is the best approach to any issue.

“Often you confront a problem, and if it feels bad, you want to deny it for a while. Then, when you accept it, you want to turn and run in the other direction,” said Fischbach. “But the problem you’re confronting has incredibly high information content: It’s telling you about key weaknesses in your idea. And often, it’s giving you the clue you need to solve it.”

Even outside of the research context, Fischbach believes that facing adversity and getting yourself out of a tight spot are invaluable. “It’s not a cause for sadness – it’s the quintessential experience of life,” said Fischbach. “And if you can get out of it by using your brain, your creativity, your intuition, the people around you – you take a shortcut to the next level. And you’re unstoppable.”