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Changing Perspectives
One problem-solving technique you should master is changing
perspectives to redefine the problem.
The way you define a problem is often the key to solving it. Take
a current problem from your life that you’re having
difficulty solving. Then ask yourself: How can this problem be
redefined as a financial problem? A health problem? A time
management problem? A human resource or staffing problem? A
technology problem? A prioritization problem? A communication
problem? An education problem?
Here’s a simple example. Let’s say you’re a guy
who really wants to have a girlfriend, but you’re becoming
frustrated by a lack of progress in this area. How have you been
defining the problem? As a problem meeting the right person? How
else could you define it? Maybe your real problem is your career,
which forces you to work in a male dominated industry —
might the problem be a lot easier to solve if you worked in a
female-dominated industry? Maybe your hobbies keep you homebound
and alone, so you have to go out of your way to meet new people
instead of naturally encountering them in the course of your
normal life. Maybe your communication skills are poor, turning
people away before they get a chance to know you. Maybe
you’re putting everything else first in your life, and
you’re not giving this problem the attention it requires.
Maybe your finances are so poor you can’t afford to go out
much.
Consider how the problem would change if you were to tackle it
via one of these alternate definitions. What would happen to the
problem if… you were a masterful and confident communicator?
your income doubled? you worked in a totally different industry?
you moved? you made it your #1 priority in life? you recruited a
partner to help you solve it? you read 20 books on the subject?
Some problems that are really tough to solve via one route will
more easily succumb to another approach. For example, many
problems can be solved just by throwing enough money at them.
While obviously money can’t solve every problem, money can
hire a personal assistant, a nanny, a housekeeper, a private
tutor, a personal coach, a personal trainer, etc.
A simple perspective change can open up a whole new world of
possible solutions. When you consider only one perspective —
one limited way of defining the problem — you automatically
rule out an enormous number of potentially viable solutions. But
blanket the problem with a multi-perspective attack, and your
odds of success increase dramatically.
Often we fall into a pattern of being stuck with a single
favorite perspective. I.e. if all you have is a hammer, then
every problem looks like a nail. My personal weakness is
technology. I love solving problems via technology — a
little PHP and MySQL can automate just about anything — so I
often get stuck trying to solve problems via technology when
they’d be more easily solved another way. It’s hard to
break the favorite-perspective addiction, but when you start
thinking through what it costs in terms of overall effectiveness,
that helps provide the push needed to branch out.
You can use this approach with business problems too. Reframe
your current big challenge as a marketing problem, a sales
problem, a product development problem, a financing problem, a
hiring problem, a “not firing” problem, a focus
problem, a procedures problem, a values problem, etc.
Sometimes you’ll find that a multi-perspective solution is
best. You may see that there are two or three perspectives which
individually aren’t sufficient, but together they can
provide a complete solution.
Pull out one of your big hairy problems, and try it for yourself.
See what the problem looks like from different angles. What would
happen if you threw money at your weight loss problem by setting
up a home gym and hiring a personal trainer? What if you threw
people and brainpower at your financial difficulties by forming a
mastermind group? What about throwing education at your spiritual
troubles by studying the lives of people you admire?
Copyright © Steve Pavlina
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