I was working with a friend's child on some trigonometry equations. She was getting stuck on how the left hand side (LHS) is related to the right hand side (RHS) and she was overwhelmed with the thought of finding the relationship, so she can solve the problem which was to prove that the LHS is equal to the RHS.

Basically, she was trying to solve the whole problem in her head and then put that on paper. I realized where the problem was: She was looking at a 10kg cake and trying to figure out what is the best way to eat it. It occurred to me that the best way to solve this is to take it one step at a time, don't try to solve everything in your head and then bring it to paper; instead use the paper—one step at a time.

I've seen similar scenarios at the workplace, people getting overwhelmed with the outcome. It is good to know the outcome, but the simplest method that has worked for me is to write down the next steps and then execute them in that order. Eat it one spoon at a time.