It’s not a hustle. It’s not creativity. It’s how you see the problem. Every year, 6.5 million pets enter shelters in the US. Only half are adopted. For years, nonprofits have treated this as an awareness issue, spending millions on campaigns urging people to adopt. But the results barely shifted.
Then BarkBox asked a better question: What if this isn’t about awareness, but access? They built a Tinder-like app to match people with pets. It cost just $8,000. The adoption rates jumped. Same challenge, but with a new lens — and suddenly, solutions became obvious. A nonprofit called Downtown Dog Rescue went even deeper. They reframed the issue from adoption to abandonment. Instead of focusing on how to find homes for pets, they asked why people were giving them up in the first place. What they found was surprising: most people didn’t want to abandon their pets. They simply couldn’t afford to keep them — rent hikes, vet costs, and pet restrictions were the real drivers. The organization shifted its focus to helping people keep their dogs, solving the problem at its root. A simple shift in framing changed everything.
Reframing isn’t a clever mental trick. It’s a foundational skill that helps you see the real problem hiding beneath the noisy, surface-level one. And when you reframe well, better answers tend to show up — often faster, cheaper, and more humane than you’d expect. To make this skill practical, we use two tools: MAP and BDO. MAP stands for minimum actionable problem — the smallest, clearest part of a larger challenge that you can realistically take action on. BDO stands for best doable option — not the ideal solution, but the most effective move you can make right now, with the resources, influence, and time you have. Think of MAP as the fire you can see, and BDO as the bucket you can carry. So how do you get to that level of clarity?
Start by writing your problem down as: “The problem is that…” This forces specificity and slows your thinking just enough to see what you’ve been glossing over. Then step back and ask: Are we solving the right thing? Is there a hidden assumption here? Are emotions framing this problem more than facts?
From there, apply five simple moves. First, zoom out: What might we be missing entirely? Then, check the goal: Is this really the outcome we should be chasing? Look for bright spots where the problem doesn’t show up; sometimes answers hide in those exceptions. Reflect inward: How might we be contributing to this? Finally, take someone else’s perspective. What does this look like from their side?
When you find your MAP, and you act on your BDO, things start to shift. At work, instead of saying “My manager never supports my ideas,” you might realize the real issue is that she doesn’t see how they connect to her goals. Your MAP becomes the lack of alignment with her OKRs. Your BDO is to create a concise pitch that starts from her priorities and clearly connects to your idea.
In life, instead of saying “I feel stuck,” you realize that your mornings are chaotic and reactive. The MAP? You begin your day in firefighting mode. The BDO? Replace the first 10 minutes of phone scrolling with stretching or journaling — try it for three days.
In product, instead of “Users aren’t engaging,” the reframed version becomes: “Users are confused after onboarding.” The MAP becomes the unclear post-onboarding screen. The BDO? Add a clear CTA or tooltip, and test it with 50 users this week.
We’ve built a GPT that helps you practice this, guiding you through framing your problem, spotting your MAP, and nudging you toward your BDO. It’s like a calm, clear-thinking coach when the problem feels messy or you feel stuck. Here’s the truth: reframing doesn’t make problems disappear. It makes them solvable. And that one shift — from stuck to solvable — is often the difference between frustration and momentum.
If you're stuck in a challenge right now — at work, in your product, or in your own mind — try this: write it down, reframe it, find your MAP, and act on your BDO. Better yet, talk to us. We’re building tools and conversations that make reframing second nature. One problem, one reframe at a time.