On identifying your options

When facing an obstacle or critical issue, best entrepreneurs and innovators are able to leverage causal and effectual thinking concurrently:

Causal thinking focuses on the end result—objective—and working out different pathways—tactics, activities, measures—to reach it.

Effectual thinking focuses on taking stock of what you currently have—resource, know-how, talent, insight—and imagining what else you could achieve with those.

There is no either/or with these two thinking modes; it is about combining these two to generate the best options for your situation.