"understand the starting point, the desired end point, and identify the path between them"
That is the definition of problem-solving. If there was any nuance in the original comment, we both failed to find it.
This is perhaps the most verbose and ridiculous way of saying "I think about how to solve the problem". It feels like a parody with the prompt of: how a person who scored 170 on an online IQ test would describe how their brain works.