Ask HN: How to be better at problem solving

Sometimes I feel like my approach to solving a problem while programming is not much better than a “guess and check” method where I write some code, see if that part works, and then continue on. Most of the time I feel like I am playing chess where I am only able to think about my current move and maybe the next one or two beyond that, which can lead to frustration when I see that I have made a mistake or an error in design choice that needs to be fixed. This is especially made evident to me in stressful situations like interviews where I feel like my critical thinking abilities take a big hit and I’m left making silly mistakes or overlooking something until later in the interview.

As a child, there was a lot of pressure placed on me to excel in subjects that did not come easily to me such as math and I often wonder if my brain has been conditioned to try to shut down when I encounter problems that I’m unsure how to solve at first glance as some kind of a protection mechanism, despite the fact that in general I am someone who gets great satisfaction out of solving difficult problems or figuring something out.

It seems like some people have an innate ability to see more steps ahead than I usually do, and therefore can move faster and spend less time guessing and checking their work. I think that by improving my general problem solving ability and being more deliberate about how I choose to go about solving things that this will improve with time, so I am wondering if anyone has helpful tactics outside of just programming more that may help me out here.