Streetlight Effect : Don't Search For Solutions in Easy Places | Drunkard's Search Principle

Don’t Search For Solutions in Easy Places

One day, a policeman sees a drunken man looking for something under a streetlight. The policeman asks “what are you search here?”. The drunken man says he has lost his keys and searching for them here. So, the policeman asks whether you are certain that you lost the keys here. The man says “No I lost them in the park”. Feeling confused, the policeman asks “Then why are you searching for them here?”. The man answers by telling Ï am searching here as the light is only here”.

This is known as streetlight effect, or the drunkard's search principle. The principle illustrates that, people search for solutions in easier places instead of searching in the places where the solution can be found.

We can find many similar situations in our life where we take the easier path and look for solutions in places where it’s easier to search.

In university, we get to choose some of the subjects based on our degree programme. Ideally, we should be looking for subjects that will help our career after the graduation. However, most of us look for subjects that are easier to complete, even though they doesn't align with our future goals.

Similarly, we search for most demanding jobs and choose our education path to target that job. Ideally, we should be searching for the things we are good at doing, and keeps us happy. Then, we should move on that path and work make ourselves qualified for the available jobs.

Also, we keep looking for jobs in locations and companies we love, even if these places don’t offer a job for your qualifications. Instead, we should move to the right location and pick a company that offers a good job for our qualifications.

Often, we look for solutions in wrong places as the process is easy. We fear the failures of trying to find the solutions in right, but difficult places. So, stop searching for solutions in easy places and take the hard path to find the solution in right place.