Stop Solving Personal Problems and Start Dissolving Them
Distinctions and insights on Problem Solving based on Russell Ackoff's Ideas.
Most people spend their lives fighting the same battles over and over again.
They struggle with procrastination, lose weight and gain it back, repeatedly fall into unhealthy relationships, battle financial stress, or promise themselves that this time they will finally become disciplined. Yet months or years later, they find themselves confronting the same problems, often in a slightly different form.
Why?
Because most of us have been taught how to solve problems, but almost nobody teaches us how to dissolve them.
This distinction comes from the pioneering systems thinker Russell Ackoff, who argued that there are four fundamentally different ways people deal with problems:
- Absolution
- Resolution
- Solution
- Dissolution
Most personal development advice operates at the level of resolution and solution. The real transformation, however, happens at the level of dissolution.
Understanding these four approaches can completely change how you approach your life.
The Hidden Assumption Behind Most Self-Improvement
When people encounter a recurring problem, they usually assume the problem itself is the issue.
"I'm lazy."
"I have poor self-control."
"I need more motivation."
"I need a better strategy."
But systems thinking suggests something radically different.
The problem may not exist because of who you are.
The problem may exist because of the system you live within.
Imagine trying to keep water from leaking onto your floor.
Most people grab a towel and mop it up repeatedly.
A systems thinker asks:
"Why is there water on the floor in the first place?"
The difference seems subtle.
It isn't.
It changes everything.
1. Absolution: Hoping the Problem Solves Itself
Absolution is the simplest and most common response to personal problems.
You ignore the issue and hope time will somehow fix it.
You tell yourself:
- "Things will get better."
- "I'll start next month."
- "Maybe it will work itself out."
- "I don't want to think about it right now."
Sometimes this works.
Many minor problems genuinely disappear without intervention.
A cold usually resolves itself.
A temporary conflict may fade naturally.
But recurring life problems rarely vanish on their own.
Example: Financial Stress
Suppose you continually spend more than you earn.
Absolution sounds like:
"I'll worry about that later."
You avoid opening bank statements.
You ignore budgeting.
You delay looking at debt balances.
The anxiety temporarily disappears because you're avoiding it.
The debt doesn't.
The Leaking Roof Analogy
Imagine rainwater dripping through your ceiling.
Absolution is placing a bucket underneath and hoping the rain stops.
The bucket might help today.
But eventually the roof collapses.
Many people spend years living this way.
Not because they are irrational.
Because avoidance often provides immediate emotional relief.
The problem is that emotional relief is not the same as problem resolution.
2. Resolution: The Band-Aid Approach
Resolution is more active.
Instead of ignoring the problem, you apply a practical fix that is "good enough."
Ackoff referred to this as satisficing.
You aren't trying to eliminate the problem.
You are trying to make it manageable.
Resolution relies heavily on common sense, habit, experience, and trial and error.
Example: Procrastination
Suppose you constantly delay important work.
A resolution might be:
- Installing a productivity app
- Using a timer
- Creating a to-do list
- Drinking more coffee
These interventions may help.
They reduce symptoms.
But they often leave the underlying system unchanged.
You still dislike the work.
You still associate it with anxiety.
You still wait until pressure becomes unbearable.
Example: Stress Eating
A person snacks whenever they feel stressed.
Resolution might involve:
- Buying healthier snacks
- Reducing portion sizes
- Using smaller plates
These strategies can improve outcomes.
But the emotional pattern remains intact.
Food is still being used as emotional regulation.
The Painkiller Analogy
Imagine you have recurring headaches.
Resolution is taking aspirin.
The headache disappears.
You feel better.
But if the headaches are caused by chronic sleep deprivation, dehydration, or eye strain, the root cause remains untouched.
Resolution is often useful.
The danger is mistaking symptom management for transformation.
3. Solution: Finding the Optimal Fix
Most modern self-improvement operates at this level.
A solution attempts to find the best possible answer within the existing system.
Unlike resolution, which seeks "good enough," solution seeks optimization through analysis, experimentation, and evidence.
Example: Weight Loss
Suppose someone wants to lose 20 kilograms.
The solution mindset asks:
- Which diet is most effective?
- What calorie target is optimal?
- What exercise program produces maximum fat loss?
- What does the research say?
This approach is far more sophisticated than simple resolutions.
It often produces impressive results.
But notice the hidden assumption.
The person is still operating within the same life structure.
The same stressful job.
The same sleep habits.
The same social environment.
The same emotional triggers.
The Faster Car Analogy
Imagine you commute three hours every day.
A solution is buying a faster car.
You optimize the journey.
You reduce travel time.
A dissolution asks:
"Why do I live so far from where I work?"
One improves the process.
The other eliminates the need for the process.
4. Dissolution: Making the Problem Disappear
This is Ackoff's most powerful idea.
Dissolution does not solve a problem.
It redesigns the system that creates the problem.
The objective is not to manage the problem better.
The objective is to create conditions in which the problem no longer arises.
Example: Procrastination
Most people try to solve procrastination.
A dissolver asks:
"Why does this work require so much willpower?"
Perhaps:
- You're in the wrong career.
- The task lacks meaning.
- The environment is distracting.
- Expectations are unrealistic.
Instead of forcing yourself harder, you redesign your environment.
You simplify commitments.
You eliminate distractions.
You align work with intrinsic motivation.
The procrastination largely disappears because the system producing it has changed.
Example: Chronic Stress
Many people seek better stress-management techniques.
Meditation.
Breathing exercises.
Journaling.
These are useful.
But dissolution asks a more uncomfortable question:
"What if the problem isn't my ability to manage stress?"
"What if the problem is the life structure generating the stress?"
Perhaps the answer is:
- Changing jobs
- Ending a toxic relationship
- Relocating
- Simplifying commitments
- Reducing financial obligations
The problem disappears because the source disappears.
The Mosquito Analogy
Imagine you're sitting in a room full of mosquitoes.
- Absolution ignores the bites.
- Resolution scratches them.
- Solution develops a better insect repellent.
- Dissolution drains the swamp where mosquitoes breed.
One treats symptoms.
The other removes conditions.
Why Dissolution Feels So Difficult
Dissolution requires challenging assumptions.
This is why most people never reach it.
We become trapped inside invisible rules.
We assume:
- My career must look like this.
- Success requires constant stress.
- I need more discipline.
- I can't change my environment.
- This is just who I am.
These assumptions become mental prisons.
Often the greatest breakthrough comes not from finding a better answer but from asking a better question.
The Idealized Life Exercise
Imagine your current life disappeared overnight.
Tomorrow morning, you could redesign it from scratch, constrained only by what is realistically possible.
Ask yourself:
- What would my work look like?
- How would I structure my days?
- Who would I spend time with?
- What commitments would I eliminate?
- Which recurring frustrations would no longer exist?
Now compare that ideal design to your current reality.
The gap reveals where dissolution may be possible.
The Ultimate Shift
Most personal development teaches people how to become better problem-solvers.
Systems thinking teaches something more powerful.
Become a better system designer.
When you continually solve the same problem, it may be a sign that the problem is not meant to be solved.
It may be a sign that the system creating it needs to be redesigned.
The highest form of personal growth is not becoming stronger than your problems.
It is creating a life in which many of those problems no longer exist.
