I'm looking for an idiom, proverb or saying that can be used for describing a situation that someone focus on the minor problems in their life rather than the basic problems that have caused those minor ones.
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When somebody acts like this, we Iranians would say in Persian:

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> "**This person is like someone who has lost his horse and is looking for its horseshoes!**" (= he has forgotten about "the lost horse" as his main problem, while he knows as long as he doesn't find the horse, the horseshoes will be useless!)
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How do you describe this situation in English? Is there any idiom equivalent to that Persian proverb? 

I have found "[put the cart before the horse"](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/put-the-cart-before-the-horse), can I use it for describing people who act like this?