Solving problems
The ability to solve problems, both personally and professionally, is a characteristic that can provide good results in many aspects of our lives. I clearly see that many people already have “the gift” of solving problems, acting naturally in the midst of adversity and focusing on the result even if it can only be achieved in the long term.
I believe that this skill, like many others, can be learned or improved through a little discipline, patience and hard work.
Let’s start…
Mentalization
Seeing everything in life as a problem is not good and can lead to few achievements. Nobody likes to be around people who just complain about life and are always complaining about everything. Stop making excuses and start focusing on the solution, not the problem. Start seeing problems as opportunities. In addition to better results, maybe life seems more fun.
Managing Anxiety
A big difficulty for me, and I believe other people will relate to this, is managing anxiety. When we encounter problems that are beyond our ability or knowledge (or sometimes we think they are), the feeling of anxiety can hit and it is necessary to control it. If anxiety takes over, the degree of difficulty can increase even more, making the problems unsolvable, at least in our eyes.
Another situation is when problems pile up and we become overwhelmed. If in your professional life you have a very large to-do list, talk to your leader to set priorities. In personal life we can face health problems and financial difficulties at the same time. If we think that nothing has a solution and that we can’t do anything, then nothing will be solved. Ask family members for help, talk to people who are close. A good conversation is one of the first steps towards the solution.
We are not always able to act calmly and clearly when solving a problem because we may be under pressure or simply the problem has a high urgency that requires immediate action, but we are already involved in other tasks. People who manage to remain calm and focus on the solution in emergency situations, manage to save themselves and sometimes even save others, even in major disasters.
Divide and conquer
Let’s think a little about Project Management here and one of the tasks of the project manager is precisely to segment everything that needs to be done (or “solved”) and organize it into a schedule defining deadlines and responsibilities. This is what we can call segmentation, and this method allows us to solve very large problems effectively.
This can be applied to everything in our lives, such as the acquisition of goods and assets through installment purchases (always remembering to consider your personal budget), completion of an undergraduate course, a postgraduate degree and even the expansion of the family. .
Separate the Problems
This is very important, and like all important things, it is not easy to accomplish. Don’t let work problems interfere with your personal life and vice versa. Separate the problems, and leave work situations to solve at work and household things to solve at home (nowadays for many this is the same place lol). This can be a little difficult, but it can be done. One thing I believe can help you to do this is to have a hobby or some kind of leisure that helps you forget about work problems.
To focus on work problems, try to arrive early, and take a few minutes to plan your day, list your tasks and define your action plan for the day. Before you leave, list the tasks that are left unfinished, and get your desk tidy. Arriving the next day and finding everything already messed up is a bad way to start the day.
How to do
it There are several methods for personal organization, this is not the main focus of the post, but you can find several articles about organization and personal productivity on the internet. Of course, we don’t need, and sometimes we can’t, design the solution for everything in our lives.
Start by sorting problems by difficulty and urgency, this is the first and most important step. Find the urgent issues that need your immediate attention, and save the less urgent ones for later in your activity queue. Then, sort the problems by complexity and solve the easiest ones first, then move on to the more complex ones. To accomplish this, every initiative is valid: spreadsheets, notebooks, to-do lists on the internet, google calendar, in short… the sky is the limit.
We can apply this method to carry out a test, for example:
- Sort questions by difficulty
- Sort questions by score
- Solve the easiest questions with the highest scores
- Solve the easiest questions with the lowest scores
- Solve the most difficult questions with the highest score
- Solve the hardest questions with the lowest scores
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Actually it is, but we don’t always think like that on a day-to-day basis.
Bigger Problems…
In addition to divide and conquer and classify problems, we can use other strategies for more complex problems:
- Detachment: try to understand the problem from afar, detaching yourself emotionally from the situation. Getting emotionally involved can make the problem seem like it has no solution.
- Sharing: discuss the problem with others, listen to the point of view of those you know and trust
- Balance: reflect on the problem and its possible solutions. Analyze each solution and ponder the pros and cons and possible consequences of each decision. Above all, don’t make hasty decisions.
I hope these tips help you to solve the problems in your life. If the problems in your professional life are multiplying and even organizing the tasks with the suggestions presented to pressure and the problems only grow, talk to your Leader, he will help you!
The same goes for your personal life. Talk to your family members, dialogue is always the best policy, but know how to demand results and promises of change.
To the next! Thanks for reading!
