Always be thinking, “What problem am I solving here?” Don’t worry about how to solve the problem, yet. As engineers it is easy to get pulled into the details of specific solution implementation before we really have outlined the problem to be solved. I don’t know how many times I was told as a junior “that’s an implementation detail” while learning this lesson. If you care already constructing functions and APIs in your head in your favorite language while just talking about what the customer (maybe your boss) needs then you are falling victim to this type of thinking.
I once had a random beer and the Old Town with a senior executive IT consultant who seemed to be being paid obscene amounts of money to help fortune 10 companies transform their IT organizations. He was a little drunk and after exchanging stories for a while he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Make sure you teach them to focus on solutions.”