Solving Sand in the Sandals

I love the beach. The sound of the waves, the smell of salt in the air, the feeling of the sun on my face — it’s all perfect.

But I hate sand.
It’s gritty, it sticks to everything, and it gets everywhere. Especially in my sandals.

One day after a beach trip, I was sitting in the car, brushing sand off my feet for the hundredth time, and I thought: there has to be a better way.

That’s when inspiration struck.
What if I could engineer a device that straps to your legs — a pair of mini squirt guns that spray your sandals clean? You step off the beach, press a button, and boom — sand-free footwear.

It sounded brilliant. I started thinking through prototypes, market positioning, even the commercial:
“Never track sand again — the Sandle-Blaster 3000, just $39.99!”

That’s when my wife, who had been listening patiently, said:
“Or… you could just shake out your sandals. Or walk into the water. It’s easier.”

And just like that, my entrepreneurial dreams were crushed by logic.

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When “Irritations” Masquerade as Problems

That story still makes me laugh — but it also hits close to home.

Because in business, we do this all the time.
We take something that’s irritating and treat it like it’s strategic.

We build entire projects, products, and processes to solve “sand in the sandals” problems — things that feel annoying but don’t actually cost the business anything measurable.

The truth is:
If you can’t tie a problem to a business metric, it’s probably not a business problem.

It might be a preference.
It might be friction.
It might be noise.
But it’s not value.

Business problems are measured in currency — revenue gained, cost reduced, or risk mitigated.

If your “problem” doesn’t connect to one of those three things, you might just be designing the Sandle-Blaster 3000.

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The Psychology of Over-Engineering

Why do we over-engineer?

Because solving small problems feels good.
They’re tangible. They’re fixable. They let us feel competent and in control.

Big problems — the ones tied to business outcomes — are uncomfortable. They require discovery, ambiguity, and patience. They often reveal gaps we can’t personally solve.

So instead, we do the easy thing:
We jump on the first problem we can identify and start building a solution.

It’s productive. It’s satisfying. It scratches the itch for progress.
But it’s rarely the right problem.

The Engineer’s Bias

There’s a common pattern I’ve seen — especially among technical sellers and engineers.
We’re wired to fix things. That’s what makes us great at our jobs.

But that same instinct can backfire in discovery.
When we hear about a customer challenge, our brain immediately starts scanning for a problem we can solve.

Psychologically, this is known as solution bias — the tendency to favor problems that align with our existing expertise or offerings. It’s comfortable. It’s safe.

The danger is that it blinds us to the real issues — the ones that may not fit neatly inside our product or scope.

So instead of exploring deeper, we attach to the first problem that matches our toolset.
We become eager to fix something instead of ensuring we’re fixing the right thing.

This is the technical seller’s version of cleaning sand from sandals:
We’re busy, we’re building, but we’re not making an impact.

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How to Tell the Difference

When you’re faced with a new initiative, customer request, or idea, you have to ask three questions — and you have to get to real numbers.

1. What’s the measurable business outcome — exactly?
   Don’t settle for “this will increase revenue” or “this will improve efficiency.”
   How much revenue? How much efficiency? Over what timeframe?
   Vague impact statements are the hallmark of “sand in the sandals” work.
   Business problems have metrics. Real problems have math.
2. Who feels the pain — and what’s it worth in dollars?
   If one person is frustrated but it’s not costing the business anything, that’s irritation, not opportunity.
   But if a process delay causes a $50,000 monthly backlog or a 2% churn rate, now we’re talking.
3. What happens if we do nothing — in financial terms?
   Quantify the cost of inaction.
   If the answer is “nothing really changes,” then it’s not a business problem — it’s a personal preference dressed up as urgency.

The difference between fixing sand and solving strategy is simple:
Sand irritates. Strategy quantifies.

If you can’t assign numbers, you can’t assign priority.

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Practical Exercise: The “Sand Audit”

Try this with your team this week:

1. List the top five “problems” you’re working on.
   Big or small — projects, customer issues, internal frustrations.
2. Assign each one a business metric.
   Revenue, cost, or risk. If you can’t tie it to one, flag it as sand.
3. For the sand problems, identify the simplest resolution.
   Can you shake it off? Automate it? Ignore it?
4. Redirect your best energy to the problems tied to real currency.

You’ll be amazed how much effort you’ve been putting into cleaning sandals instead of sailing the boat.

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Closing Reflection

“The greatest danger is not that we aim too high and miss, but that we aim too low and hit.”
— Michelangelo

The next time you find yourself inventing a clever solution, stop and ask:
Is this solving a business problem, or just sand in my sandals?

Sometimes the smartest move isn’t to build something new — it’s to just shake it off and walk into the water.