What Gets Attention 
Isn't Always The Problem

Why the issue demanding your effort is not always the shaping the outcome.

Written by Sam Abeysekera on 3 June 2026
June has a way of creating an unusual tension.

The year isn't over...but it isn't beginning either.

For many professionals, it's the point where plans are reviewed, goals are revisited, and attention turns toward whatever feels most urgent:

   "I need more clients"
   "I need a better team"
   "I need more confidence"
   "I need a better system"

...these concerns are often real.

But over the years, I've noticed something curious.

The problem that gets our attention is not always the problem shaping the outcome.

In fact, they are often different things...
The visible problem
The visible problem has a natural advantage:

it's tangible; 
creates discomfort;
it asks for action...

...and action feels productive.

If I need more clients, I can network.
If I need more visibility, I can post.
If I need more confidence, I can take a course.

The visible problem gives us something to do...so we do it. Sometimes for months. Sometimes for years.

Meanwhile, the more consequential issue remains untouched.

I've seen professionals pursue business development when the real challenge was positioning;

leaders who focus on performance when the underlying issue was alignment;

I've seen people seek confidence when what they actually needed was evidence, structure, or repetition.

The visible problem wasn't wrong; it was simply attracting attention.
And attention is powerful
Where attention goes, effort follows...

Where effort follows, time accumulates...

Which means an incorrectly identified problem can become surprisingly expensive. Not because of the effort itself. But because of the opportunities quietly lost while attention is pointed elsewhere.

This is one reason breakthroughs often appear sudden from the outside.

A person struggles with an issue for months or years. Then something shifts.

The visible problem remains, but they finally see the thing that was shaping it.

Once that happens, progress can accelerate remarkably quickly.

Not because they started working harder.

But because they started working on something different.

I've come to believe that one of the most valuable skills in professional life is not problem solving.
Its problem identification
It's the ability to pause before reacting and ask:

What is actually shaping this outcome?

Not: "what is demanding my attention?" but: "what is creating the result?"

Those are not always the same question.

And the answers are not always the same.
As we move into the second half of the year...
...perhaps the more useful reflection is:

   > Not whether you're working hard enough
   > Not whether you're doing enough

But whether the thing receiving your effort is the thing shaping your results.

Because sometimes the most important shift isn't finding a better solution.

It's discovering you're solving the wrong problem.

And that single realization can change far more than another six months of effort.

Am I working on the thing getting my attention... or the thing shaping the outcome?

Sam Abeysekera

Sam Abeysekera is the lawyer’s advocate - helping female partners and founders design practices that carry them instead of consuming them. She converts real-world dilemmas into positioning, pipeline, and influence playbooks so her clients can lead with clarity, shape firm dynamics, and grow sustainable books on their own terms.
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