Thinking Through Problem Solving

Think Through The Problem To The Solution
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Communication skills are one of the most important tools you can develop if you want to accelerate your advancement in your career. Since the most valuable tool you have is your mind, it makes sense that one of the most important things you can do in business is solve problems and make decisions. This does for the business world as well as for your personal life.

One of the most used types of communication in the business world is that used in meetings for solving problems or making decision. Since this is a group effort, it will benefit everyone in the group of you choose a method to guide you through the efforts to solve your problem or to make the decision. This keeps everyone on the same track and allows for a systematic process for accomplishing the goal of the meeting.

Get a Vivid Mental Image Of The Problem
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Before you start jumping to conclusions and making all kinds of assumptions, be sure to collect as many of the facts as possible and work to explain the problem in as clear a manner as possible. Most of the problems you will face will be resolved by simply bringing the real problem into the light.

Focus On The Future
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When solving a problem or making a decision be sure to ask a few questions to help you plan for the future and not doom yourself to repeat the past. “What is the next step?”, “Where do we go now?”, and “What else could we do?” are all questions that will help you to focus on the future – which is the only thing you can change. The past is already history.

Make The Solution Your Focus
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Another thing to remember when you are trying to solve that problem or make that decision is to think and talk about the possible solutions rather than focusing on the problem. In a group setting, there is a tendency to state the “obvious problem” and to point the blame to someone. However, our focus should be on what we can do now, where we can go from here, and how we can do better the next time.

When people talk about solutions it is generally a positive thing. If negativity and judging are removed from a group meeting and positive encouragement and feedback are added, the resulting positive environment will cause the creativity of each group member to flourish which will allow the group to produce results that are more than just the sum of each member’s creativity. On the other hand, if the positive things are neglected and negativity is allowed to control the meeting, the creativity of each member and the group as a whole will be killed.

You can choose to be a positive thinker. You do this by deciding to focus more on solutions than on problems. Every time a problem confronts you, think of it as another opportunity to be more positive. Every time a problem confronts you, think of it as another opportunity to be more positive. If you help everyone in your group to start focusing on solutions, the resulting increase in the quality and quantity of ideas will surprise you.

How Can I Put This To Use Today
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Start by getting that clear definition of the problem. Think about or discuss how your ideal decision or solution would look and what would happen. Focus more on the solution and stop dwelling so much on the current situation.

Then, keep the conversation focused on solutions. Think about what you can do for the future. Remember that positive thoughts and attitudes release, and even enhance creativity.

Copyright © 2006

De-Lego The Task

A Reason For Procrastination
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When we look at a large or very important task, we are often overwhelmed by the sense of how enormous and hard it’s going to be to get it done. This is one of the main reasons why we procrastinate. However, if we were to be given only one part of the task at a time, we would likely not be nearly so intimidated. Imagine your completed task as one of the pictures on your brand new set of Lego blocks. Your task is to pull one Lego at a time out of the bucket and put it together with others to create the desired object from the picture.

One Lego At A Time
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Have you ever noticed how many times a task feels easier once you start on some part of it. That’s because we have a psychological fear of failing at the big task so we don’t want to start it. But, if we will take one Lego at a time, before you know it, you’re half-way there.

When Do You Start?
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Just like rolling a barrel or tire down a hill, it doesn’t do anything until you get it started. The same can be said of our tasks. They will never be completed until we start on them. Just pull-out the first Lego and get started. When you do this, you will build-up some momentum from the accomplishments of each piece of the task (just like the object rolling down the hill) that will help to carry you through the rest of the task.

How Can I Put This To Use Today
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Start by choosing an important task and break it apart (De-Lego-it) in front of you.

Then, choose one piece of the task (the first Lego) and get started.

Copyright © 2006

Three Maxims For Success

Begin With A Clear Goal
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What do business, war, and work all have in common? The winner is generally the one that is able to employ a better strategy against their competition. You will learn about three maxims that you can use to help you be successful in business as well as your personal life.

The first maxim to be mentioned is the Action Maxim. This is your answer to the question, “What am I going to do?” To successfully employ this maxim, you must be very clear about the goal you are trying to achieve. You may still be flexible in the “how to” achieve it. As can be seen from nature, the quality of adaptability may be the single most important skill you can possess when situations begin to quickly change.

Feedback-Phobia
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Most of us will accept feedback from anything except a real, live, thinking, human being. In order to know if your actions are accomplishing what you want, you need feedback. If you don’t get feedback, you could get way off course and not even know it. As Dr. Stephen Covey might say, “You may be climbing the ladder, but the ladder may be leaning against the wrong wall.” Everyone from swimmers to farmers use feedback to help them do their job as efficiently as possible. In the case of the both the swimmer and the farmer, each must find an object some distance away in the direction they intend to go then, keep their eye on it as they proceed. This keeps them on a straight line. If they didn’t do this, swimmers would be all over each other in the pool and the nice neat square farm plots seen from the air would look more like something from Picasso. To be successful, you need to be able to accept feedback (whether you like it or not), analyze it, make any adjustments to your plans that may be indicated, and continue pressing forward.

Better Knowledge, Better Actions
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The second maxim is that of the Knowledge Maxim. This maxim is all about learning all you can about the situation before you make a decision. Remember, facts don’t lie and facts are verifiable. In order to successfully employ this maxim, you must gather as many verifiable facts as possible to help you make the best decisions. This will lead to superior actions.

Improve The Quality Of Your Decisions
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One of the most important skills to have is the ability to make quality decisions. The quality of your decisions is reflected in the time you spend learning the facts you need to know. Some leaders will explain that if you don’t have enough information, delay the decision. When facing a decision, try to list as many possible solutions as possible. Don’t stop listing to try to see if each one will work. Just get them recorded for later review and let your creativity run wild with this step. If possible, get someone to help you think of more possible solutions. The more possible solutions you can come up with, the better the chance your ultimate solutions will be one that not only works, but works very well.

Invest Your Resources Wisely
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The third maxim is the M.E.E.T. Maxim (Most Effective & Efficient Tactics). This means you don’t need a ten-pound sledge hammer to push a push-pin into a wall. However, you do need to apply enough force to accomplish your goal. You need to determine how much time, energy, and resources will be needed to accomplish the goal. Then, conserve the rest for other things. In your own life, your personal energy is the resource you have to employ during your lifetime. Basically, this maxim teaches you to take some thought into just how you are going to use up your energy. Also, keep in mind the importance and value of the things you are using your energy on in the eyes of others and to yourself. Don’t waste YOU!

How Can I Put This To Use Today
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Start by keeping yourself adaptable in relation to your decisions and plans. When changes start coming rapidly, this will be a tremendous asset. Keep your mind open to new and better ways of doing things.

Then, be sure you have all the facts you need. Remember that you will make better quality decisions the more time you spend gathering those verifiable facts that will lead you in the right direction.

Copyright © 2006

Happiness is a Decision

It is my belief that you were born with everything you would need to develop an excellent life for yourself. One key to generating the happiness you desire in your life is to accept the fact that happiness is a decision and not a destination.

Get Real With Yourself
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In order to start helping yourself make progress in your own life, you have to get real with yourself. There can be no head games, no self-delusion, and most of all – no denial. Ignoring stuff rarely makes it go away and hoping it will disappear is just another way to lie to yourself. When it comes to personal development or any change for that matter, many times things will get worse before they get better. You need to be honest and stop lying to yourself. Then, with you newfound trust, you can begin to effect some very positive change in your life.

Change The Way You Think About Your Problem
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An old saying I have heard says you can not solve a problem with the same thinking that got you into it. Albert Einstein is quoted to have said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”

Figure Out What Is Right For You
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It is very hard to be happy when we feel stuck or trapped with no choice in our circumstances. But, there are many people out there working very hard and feeling miserable every day simply because they haven’t taken the time to realize that what they are doing is not helping them to be happy.

There are some questions you can ask yourself that will help you determine what you need to do to increase your happiness. A few questions are listed here:

What Would It Take For You To Decide To Be Happy?
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The first question you could ask is: “What would it take for me to decide to be happy?” List as many answers as come to mind and don’t limit your answers – use your imagination.

What Is Keeping You From Making The Decision To Be Happy?
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The second question you could ask requires you to be honest with yourself. You need to make a list of every situation and every person in your life you are not happy with at the moment. It is important to remember to be honest with yourself because properly diagnosing a problem is half the cure. I wouldn’t want my doctor to lie to me to hide the fact that I only have a few days to live. So, let’s not lie to ourselves so we can get a grip on the reality of our lives. Then, we can begin to change it for the better.

What Is Your Happiest Moment?
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The third question you could ask can reveal some important facts for you to consider when deciding what you should do to improve your happiness. You need to make a list of every time you can remember being really happy, who you were with, and what you were doing. This list of things will help you identify some relationships you may want to work on improving and some activities you may want to do more frequently.

What Am I Going To Do To Make The Decision To Be Happy?
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As you collect a list of answers to these questions, you need to start focusing on some things that you can do to help create more of the times in your life when you were really happy. It doesn’t really matter how long it may take, just knowing you are working toward making yourself happier will in itself make you feel better about you and make the decision to be happy an easier one.

How Can I Put This To Use Today?
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Start by giving your relationships a check-up. Look at your business and personal relationships. You may find some circumstances you would like to avoid if you had it to do over again.

Now, make a list of the things you think would help you decide to be happy – if you had them and develop a plan to start acquiring them.

Then, use your imagination and see yourself as being as happy as you have ever been. What did that look like in the eye of your imagination? Remember that nothing changes without taking some action, so choose to do something every day that will move you closer to your goal. Ultimately, when people ask you how you feel or how you are doing, you can honestly tell them “I am happy!!!”

Copyright © 2006

Idea Mining

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. We can look at history and see some truth to this statement. Many very creative and imaginative inventions have come as a result of the pressing need for just such an invention. Since we may not have a truly pressing need which forces us to unleash our creativity on to some problem, we may have to resort to other methods of jump-starting our creativity. One way to do this is to ask yourself some very focused questions that will cause our minds to search for the answers we need.

Focused Questions For Energizing Your Creativity
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Question 1: “What am I trying to do?” When I help my daughter with her math homework I always remind her to read the problem and then step back and explain what kind of answer the question wants. Until you know what it is you are trying to do, it will be near impossible to do it!

Question 2: “How am I going to do it?” There are many ways to get from here to there. Some make a lot of sense and others seem crazy. When we are faced with a problem, we sometimes jump immediately on a method we are comfortable with to solve it; however, this may not be the best method or, worse yet, your familiar method may not even work. Be open to try new and different approaches. This will increase your experience level and ultimately improve your creativity.

Question 3: “What am I assuming?” Whenever we approach any activity, we come to it with a set of assumptions. They may be as simple as thinking the task is so familiar, I don’t even have to think about what I am doing, which is how we go about most of the things we normally do every day. However, sometimes we make assumptions that we may not be able to prove and could even be wrong. Someone once told me that “Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure”.

Start From Scratch
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I don’t know about you, but some of the best food I have ever had has been from the kitchen of mom or grandma. Something they like to call “from scratch”. One way we can focus some questions on stirring-up our creativity is to start from scratch. Others might call this starting from nothing and some would call it “Zero based thinking.” The idea is to go back in time (no fancy machine required – just use your mind). Then ask yourself if you had known way back then what you know now, would you have made the same choice. If you’re honest with yourself and you have to say “NO”, then you might want to start working on an exit strategy to get our of what you have gotten yourself in as soon as you can. This will then free you up to try something else now that you have gained all that valuable experience.

How Can I Put This To Use Today
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Start by getting serious about exactly what it is you want to do. Record this in some manner spelling it out as if you have already done it.

Now, be sure you are not operating on false assumptions. And since things are always changing, it is a good idea to stay on top of this.

Then, be open to trying ways and methods you have never tried or even thought of as you look for better, faster, and more effective ways to do what you want to do.

Copyright © 2006