# Upstream Thinking Created: 2023_07_04 18:49 Tags: [[Model]] [[Psychology]] When you spend years responding to problems, you can sometimes overlook the fact that you could be *preventing* them. Downstream actions react to problems once they’ve occurred. Upstream efforts aim to prevent those problems from happening. To systematically reduce the harm caused by those problems. Downstream efforts are narrow and fast and tangible. Upstream efforts are broader, slower, and hazier—but when they work, they really work. Upstream is broad and slow(er). You can bring a homeless person a meal today, and you’ll feel good immediately. But to figure out how to reduce evictions, in order to prevent people from becoming homeless—that might take years. What kind of work do you care so much about that you could stick with it for 5 years? Or 10 years? A telltale sign of upstream work is that it involves [[Systems Thinking]]. Upstream work is about reducing the probability that problems will happen, and for that reason, the work must culminate in systems change. Because systems are the source of those probabilities. **To change the system is to change the rules that govern us or the culture that influences us.** ## References - [[zettels/Upstream - Dan Heath]] - https://www.tobysinclair.com/post/book-summary-upstream-by-dan-heath-how-to-solve-problems-with-systems-thinking