My wife would say I fix broken things. My 4 year old son thinks Engineers can do anything. He has often said “My dad can fix it, HE’s an ENGINEER!”. I would say that I am a professional problem solver. Here are some of my principles:

Understand

Before making changes, take the time to understand. Things are done for a reason – always challenge if the reason is still valid, but try to understand the reasons before making changes. Going into something and making drastic changes without understanding the system rarely results in good outcomes.

Learn

Find out what you need to know – then learn it. Information and training are freely and easily available. The same tools won’t work for every problem – keep expanding the toolbox. Seek out experts. People are willing to work with me and teach me once I have demonstrated an effort to learn.

Iterate

Start building and making improvements. Learn what you can with each iteration and try again. My dad taught me this simple fable:

Two people were trying to make a perfect clay pot.
One of them spent all their time perfecting the same pot.
The other kept making more and more pots. 
In the end, the one who made many had the more perfect pot.

Datapoints

Collect as many data points as you need to identify and isolate a problem. Assumptions, misconceptions, and extrapolation can quickly lead to the wrong answer. If you are unclear, find ways to get more data points.

Persist

When (not if) you hit roadblocks, attack the problem. Try pushing through, try a different angle or approach, try researching similar problems and solutions, try seeking help, try using different tools (not necessarily in that order 🙂 ). It makes the victory more satisfying.