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A Toolkit For Problem Solving
Techniques
Yesterday I was visiting a fellow Toastmaster, and we watched a
DVD called Magic Moments II. This is a video that analyzes 30
clips from the 2001-2003 International World Championship of
Public Speaking Competition in order to study some of the best
practices. I saw this same presentation live at the 2004
Toastmasters International Convention this past summer (given by
1990 World Champion of Public Speaking, David Brooks), but it was
certainly helpful to see it again. What’s interesting about
this video is that it doesn’t just analyze the winning
speeches. It takes the approach that every speaker does something
right. 9 finalists compete in this contest each year, so
that’s 27 people to study.
I like the concept behind this video: in addition to modeling the
absolute best people in your field, you can also learn a great
deal by studying the other high performers, since even though
they may not be #1 in their field, it’s likely they do at
least one thing better than anyone else. In the case of public
speaking, skills include use of humor, facial expressions,
gestures, use of props, command of the stage, use of pauses and
silence, story telling, vocal variety, blocking (purposefully
moving around the stage), speech content, use of metaphors, etc.
So while many people are inclined to study the winners of such a
contest, I really like the idea of studying every contestant too.
The main benefit of this broader range of study is that it allows
the creation of a bigger collection of problem-solving tools.
It’s been said that when your only tool is a hammer, every
problem looks like a nail. Having been studying personal
development for most of my adult life, one thing that I
didn’t expect when I started on this path was just how many
“tools” there are for solving the human problems we
encounter such as procrastination, laziness, fuzzy goals,
difficult relationships, etc. When you know 100 different methods
for overcoming procrastination, I think you have a far greater
chance of conquering unique variations of the problem whenever it
occurs.
A novice carpenter may start with just a hammer and a
screwdriver, while an expert carpenter could have 100 different
tools for solving a wide variety of carpentry problems. Now it
may be that the hammer and screwdriver can handle 80% of the
tasks that those 100 tools will address, but with such a refined
set of tools, the expert carpenter will be more precise, and
there are certain problems that the novice simply cannot solve at
all, not from a lack of skill but rather due to a lack of proper
tools.
This is a metaphor for working on your own personal growth. For
example, if you have trouble with procrastination, and
you’ve been trying to solve this problem in your life a few
different ways, try listing all the different “tools”
you’ve been using to tackle it. If you can only list 5 or 10
(or fewer), then maybe procrastination itself isn’t the real
problem. Perhaps you simply don’t have enough tools to
address all the possible variations of procrastination. So
depending on the precise details, you may find that sometimes you
can overcome the procrastination problem while other times it
remains untenable.
Think like that expert carpenter with those 100 tools. Now when
he goes to buy tool #101, it’s probably going to be
something very esoteric that he’ll hardly ever use. But when
a specific carpentry problem comes up that this tool is designed
for, even if it only happens once every two years and the tool
costs $50, he’ll be glad to have it. Each tool is an
investment that increases the number of problems he can solve
efficiently.
Are you investing enough in the tools of life? Do you have
problems that occur every week that you don’t feel
you’ve fully conquered yet? Are you trying to solve
everything with just a hammer and a screwdriver?
For example, if procrastination is a problem for you, what were
the last 10 books you read about overcoming procrastination? 10
books should give you at least 50-100 tools for overcoming
procrastination. Most people don’t even read one book on
this subject though, so all they have is that hammer and
screwdriver.
If your car breaks, will you take it to a mechanic that only owns
a wrench and a tire pump? If you go in for open heart surgery, do
you want it to be performed by a surgeon whose only tools are a
needle and a plastic tube? If you go out to dinner, do you want
your dinner prepared by a chef who only uses spatula and a knife?
Hmmm, on that last one, Benihana seems to do OK actually….
:)
Although we can rely on tool-rich experts when we need to fix our
car, our dinner, or even our blood-pumping hearts, where do we
turn when our very lives need fixing? I think that’s an area
where we need to assume personal responsibility and develop our
own toolkits that are as rich as possible. We must remain
personally responsible for learning how to solve the tricky
problems of being human, such as setting and achieving our own
goals, getting ourselves to take action in spite of fear,
discovering our values and living with integrity, building
empowering relationships with others, parenting, maintaining our
health and energy, developing our personal philosophy of life,
maturing into the best humans we can be, etc. A hammer and a
screwdriver just won’t cut it — even for
Benihana’s chefs.
So where do we develop this toolkit for life? One of the simplest
ways is to start vigorously borrowing the best tools from other
people around us. Although you may have a problem in one area,
chances are there’s someone you know who doesn’t seem
to have this same problem. Go up to that person and ask them for
advice. Borrow the tool and add it to your own toolkit. The nice
thing about borrowing human-living tools is that you don’t
have to return them.
A second method is to devour information in the area where you
need better tools. Don’t just read one book on the subject.
Read 10 books by 10 different authors. Even if you find that some
of the books are lousy, if they give you one good tool you
didn’t have yet, that’s great. I’ve read a lot of
terrible, badly written books that still gave me one useful idea.
And every once in a while, I stumble upon a really great book
that gives me a few dozen new ideas.
So just as you’d expect a carpenter, a surgeon, a mechanic,
or a fine chef to have a rich collection of tools for solving
problems within their domain, take the same approach towards your
own life. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t seem to
solve a long-term problem like losing weight. Get curious
instead. See if you can learn at least 100 different new
techniques you haven’t encountered yet.
Why is a rich toolkit so important here? Because every human
situation you’ll encounter is unique. If you need to lose
weight, your physiology is slightly different from everyone
else’s. So no one tool is likely to be a perfect fit for
your particular situation. You’re almost certainly going to
need a hybrid solution that combines multiple tools. It’s
just like the carpenter, surgeon, mechanic, or chef who will use
a variety of tools in a very specific order to solve a specific
problem, but the exact usage of the tools may be unique for any
given situation. If you only have 5 tools available, you’re
going to be very limited in your ability to successfully develop
your own hybrid solution. But if you have 100 tools, many of
which are subtle variations on each other, you’ll be able to
tackle unique human problems with far greater variety and
precision. And you’ll also avoid the problem of
overgeneralizing, where you try to use a hammer on everything.
I’ve used this approach myself with great success. For
example, in the area of spiritual beliefs, I’ve spent half
of my life studying different religions and philosophies,
immersing myself in several of them. None of the existing formal
belief systems suited me perfectly, yet each of them contained at
least one element that resonated with me. I wanted to develop a
belief system that was fully congruent my evolving knowledge
base, my direct experiences, my logic, my common sense, and my
emotions. I just couldn’t practice spirituality in a way
that seemed disingenuous to me. But by borrowing ideas from other
belief systems and thereby forming a rich set of philosophical
tools, I was able to develop a personal hybrid spiritual belief
system that suits me, even though it almost paradoxically sews
together elements from seemingly conflicting philosophies.
Although I lose the convenience of a common label, what I gain is
a philosophy that is uniquely me, incorporating everything
I’ve experienced up to this point. I also gain access to all
the “spiritual development tools” of every philosophy
I’ve studied. So while one particular religion might
emphasize the power of prayer, while another focuses on
meditation, and still another relies primarily on dream
interpretation, my belief system allows me to understand the
strengths and weaknesses of all of these practices and to use
them together in a very unique and personal way.
I’m well aware that the previous paragraph begins to
address a potentially sensitive subject matter, so please
understand that while I aim to address such topics with maturity
and respect for everyone’s spiritual beliefs, I cannot
consider the subject of spirituality itself taboo for this blog,
the simple reason being that covering certain important aspects
of personal growth ultimately requires addressing one’s
underlying philosophy of life.
Copyright © Steve Pavlina
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