What Is the Very Essence of Problem-Solving?

 We all have a friend or a family acquaintance who is the go to person when it comes to resolving device issues or even understanding the latest smart TV. What makes them so good at what they do? Is it a skill that can be learned? Or is it some "magical power" they received by virtue of watching 60 years of Star Trek? 😀

In this article and accompanying video I would like to break down what I personally think are some of the key attributes of such people. Let's start with a short list: This is from my own perspective. You may definitely feel differently about the following four points.

1. They come in every issue with a completely open mind. And have a tendency to look at the issue from multiple perspectives. If they could they would indeed try to walk a mile in someone shoes.
   
   One of the most important skills in problem solemnly is the ability to step out of your own mental framework of limitations. Most of us spend the day in this framework because it makes the mental load light on the brain. There is a structure to your reality and everything it's interpreted and filtered through this reality. Being able to put this framework aside makes it possible to be open to unconsidered possibilities. This is the biggest aspect of the essence of problem-solving. If you can do justice first step then you are 90% there to fixing what ever the issue is.
   
   You would be surprised how many people can't or are unwilling to go outside of their framework of reality. I have seen people stop dead in their tracks, hold up their hands and say "I don't know how to make this thing work." Even though the answer may be right in front of them, but not presented in a way they are used to.
   
   A real-life example: Someone bought an Amazon TV and couldn't get the built invoice assistant to work. Here's what they were doing, momentarily pushing the correct button on the remote control and speaking in to the built in microphone. They try this over and over… To no avail. If they had bothered to glance up at the TV while momentarily pressing the button they would've seen a larger message on the screen which read "Press and hold the button down well speaking." Instead they were just pressing the button momentarily and completely ignoring the message on the TV set. The answer was there all the time but they were locked in to their framework which said "You only press a button on a remote control briefly."
   
   
2. They aren't afraid of saying "I don't know.". Then there mind starts to search for possible ways to break the problem down.
   
   Sometimes you are confronted with an issue which is completely baffling or you don't know how to break the various aspects down in order to search for the appropriate answers. Good problem solvers will always ask for alternate input and ideas. This includes using AI to gain further insight or fellow colleagues. Sometimes you just have to sleep on the issue as well, until you get one of those "Eureka" moments. (I find this happens quite a lot with me.) A key point here is, if something isn't working using one approach, don't just repeat the same approach over and over. The open to asking others or stepped back from the problem for a while. Very often an answer will come to you later in the day.
   
   
3. They cultivate emotional awareness in themselves. This aids in the ability to look at a situation in different ways and identify biases they may have which could block the solution.
   
   Additionally, cultivating your own emotional awareness allows you to adapt to other people's way of explaining an issue. In its most basic form this could be just recognizing and adapting to the fact that the person who you are trying to help solve a problem has a completely different way of describing the issue than you're used to. To use a computer as an analogy, you may be completely clear on exactly what a "Drag bar" is on a typical computer screen. The person with the problem on the other hand may have no clue as to what you're referring to. They may see the exact same object and call it a "small rectangle". Emotional intelligence allows you to adapt to another way of communicating with the world under the circumstances. The first step in adapting is to understand how you communicate and how you interpret things. Then using this awareness to translate appropriately in order to make the communication between all parties clear.
   
   
4. Not only do they love to solve problems, they love the entire process. They may experience a little let down if the solution is to easy. 
   
   Oh, this one is so applicable to me! 😊I do love the thrill of solving a problem. I really do love the difficulty. There is one little downside you have to be careful though, and that is knowing when to move on in order to keep a project or other activity on schedule. Left to my own devices I would focus on one aspect for an entire day. Getting everything perfect! Well this can also be a way to shoot the project down completely. The good news is I am slowly learning not to get stuck. But I admit I still love perfection. And I am finding a happy ground between "Too Easy" and achievable.  

Edited photo of a Stella d'Oro Daylily. 
Just thought it looked nice with this post.
Download full size by clicking on image (3285 x 2266) 11 MB

You may have a different order or additional items than the ones I have indicated above, but I think the essence of problem-solving is in these four steps.

Problem-solving is a critical skill, and it is something I do every single day. Indeed I welcome the various challenges and I am the first to say that I actually enjoy difficulty in a variety of aspects. To clarify that previous statement, "difficulty" in this context refers to having to do additional work to find an answer and making progress during the process. Just making something difficult without any reason or expected outcome is a waste of time and can only lead to polite frustration.

There will of course be and accompanying video once I have fleshed out the points mentioned in the above list. For now however, take care and have a great night or morning where ever you are.
 

Patrick

** NOTE: The picture displayed at the top of this article is from the service Ideogram AI.  As a layperson, I have read their relevant "terms of service" and determined, to the best of my ability, that the image may be viewed by the public.  However before any reuse, please review fully their terms and if necessary contact the company for more information.

The use of said image does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.    

You Must Have Aspirations (at least one)

 

To my way of thinking "aspirations" are something one assumes everyone has… I have met a few people now however who don't appear to have any desires or goals to reach for. They take each day as it comes without any thought of tomorrow. I find this incredibly perplexing. Not only that a few of them literally don't want an aspiration. They appear to be quite content almost blindly going from one day to the next. This short-circuits my brain.

These people are quite young in their early 20s to the oldest being early 30s. You would think by that stage of life a person would have a few goals at the very least. Maybe it's because they are all in stable situations where most of their needs are met. (I'm talking here about the assisted living building I live in. So maybe this is particular to these kinds of environments.) I cannot recall a time when I didn't have a goal. Even as a very young child I remember thinking clearly "If I could figure out how a light switch worked I could take over the world." I kid you not that is verbatim what I used to think as a child, of about four or five years old. You can find it either amusing or perhaps a little disturbing :-). In either case however I had a goal, an aspiration. I think this attitude of mind frustrated both of my parents because I would come up with spectacular ideas and my parents would have to explain to me why you can't make a steam engine out of just a coffee can and perhaps some tubing.

I think a critical component of my early years was seeing my father build some small item on the floor with my sister and I watching. One time this was a simple electromagnet which she made by simply wrapping some wire around a nail and connecting it to a battery. My sister and myself may not quite understood what he was doing at the moment but we both perceived the sheer joy. And that I believe is key, aspirations involve great emotions and great emotions push personal evolution. That's overstating it a bit but you get the idea.

Now, society seems to be heading in the other direction, not finding the solution and thereby gaining insight to a question, we are now strictly focusing on getting just the answer. Maybe this is why I am beginning to see and meet so many people without ambition. On the surface one may think that "ambition" itself is unnecessary when you can go straight to the answer. To that I counter that a great deal is gained from the process of heading toward a goal. Very often the insights are yet very subtle and at the same moment profound for the individual. That is something you can just not get by going straight to the answer. Think back less than 100 years ago and people would routinely do high mathematics in their head. Or work it out by hand on paper. What a remarkable set of skills they gained and undoubtedly those skills would be applied to various situations throughout their lives. I can't help thinking that as we modernize we are losing the real depth and benefits of hard work and the rewards of aiming toward an achievement.

I will be doing a video for this post in the next few days so please return to the blog and let me know what you think. In the meantime however I hope this short bit of text has given you something to think about. 

Till then, Patrick 

** NOTE: The picture displayed at the top of this article is from the service Ideogram AI.  As a layperson, I have read their relevant "terms of service" and determined, to the best of my ability, that the image may be viewed by the public.  However before any reuse, please review fully their terms and if necessary contact the company for more information.

The use of said image does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.    

 

Reframe, and you will see opportunity everywhere

 

I talk a lot about opportunities. But I've begun to realize that there are even more opportunities available then I had first thought because initially I had imposed a set of restrictions which I wasn't aware of on what exactly an opportunity should look like.

This is something we all naturally do, however if one removes the subtle preconditioned we place on any given opportunity which might arise than a whole range of possibilities opens up. For example, let's say we are looking for an opportunity in a certain field, let's say the nonprofit sector. Further presume that we already have an idea in our heads which we believe would be of great benefit to a particular community. We've done the research, added up the various costs and the pros and cons of slightly different approaches. Then we approach a few organizations and are very surprised as well as disheartened to find that we are turned down after a series of very polite meetings.

What just went wrong? In this case the reason was because we didn't demonstrate any previous experience in the nonprofit realm. Of course the agencies would be nervous about funding an idea and a person who had no previous experience and was a complete unknown.

Now let's approach this same opportunity in a different way. Rather than beating the door down and visiting the agencies as a complete unknown, we instead volunteer with a nonprofit group. Getting to know how things work, and a much better overview of issues. Not to mention networking with various people. Then once we have a bit of a track record we pitch the very same idea and this time we get support and some small funding for our idea.

Green Timbers Park Surrey BC July 24, 2026

The difference between these two approaches is obvious, the first one we attempted to bulldoze what we perceived as a marvellous concept. In the second situation we work with the group gaining a track record and understanding along the way. We approach the same opportunity in different ways and one way led to success. Maybe not the full idea which is often what happens when you are asking for funding but we made a step in the right direction.

Opportunities really begin to appear when you think incrementally. The steps involved toward an ultimate goal, rather than trying to achieve everything all at once. When one approaches a situation in this slower more methodical way there are many benefits. A deeper understanding is acquired which can only be gained by going through the more detailed process. Additionally your network of acquaintances grows tremendously. And let me tell you that network may be important throughout your entire life not just the project at hand.

So when you are looking for new opportunities, make sure to consider the situations which might help get you part of the way there rather than attempting to reach the full goal all at once. I can guarantee that when you adopt this approach you will see many more "opportunities" available to you.

Have a great day!
Patrick

 

** NOTE: The picture displayed at the top of this article is from the service Ideogram AI.  As a layperson, I have read their relevant "terms of service" and determined, to the best of my ability, that the image may be viewed by the public.  However before any reuse, please review fully their terms and if necessary contact the company for more information.

The use of said image does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.