In the last year, I’ve learned more about problem solving than I have in my entire life. From work to home to everywhere in between, things have gone wrong and either myself, my wife, or our staff at work has been tasked with finding solutions.
From a simple “someone called in sick” to “Jenny’s broken leg”, we’ve been tested time and again. The day that everything runs smoothly has been the exception instead of the rule. Still, through it all, we’ve survived at home and in the workplace.
How did we pull through?
Well, I started by admitting I’m not the best problem solver and looking for help. I used to consider this a weakness but I’ve grown to accept that God gave me certain talents for a reason and God did not give me certain talents for a reason. What God did give me was the ability to do was learn through keen observation and study. Through observation and study, I’ve improved my problem solving greatly although I’ll never be considered a natural.
So what have I observed?
Natural problem solvers always believe there IS a solution. They are confident success will result, eventually, and they’re willing to stay the course until the solution is found. The natural problem solvers I’ve worked with also believe that sometimes something bigger than themselves is at work to help the pieces fall into place. In other words, they trust in God to make up the difference. When Jennifer broke her leg, we struggled for a couple weeks to figure out how we’d get Jack home from school. When we put it into God’s hands and asked his teacher to enlist help from the other parents in Jack’s class, two parents who didn’t have children in Jack’s class came forward and volunteered to help.
What have a learned through study? It’s possible to unlock the creativity in my right brain. I’ve begun to do this in two ways. First, I look within when I’m trying to solve a problem by challenging my thinking versus challenging the circumstances. Solutions come from within when we believe in our ability to find them. What handicaps us in problem solving is allowing the external to matter too much. It took me two weeks become humble enough to ask for help to build ramps for our home that would allow Jenny to move around on her knee scooter. Once I looked within and saw there was everything to be gained and nothing to be lost by asking for help, the decision and the action was easy.
Second, I’ve engaged in an activity called non-dominant handwriting. This activity involves posing a question by writing it down with my dominant hand, then switching to my non-dominant hand to answer it. Sounds hokey, I know, but it works. The mere act of switching the pen to your off hand unlocks the right brain’s creativity and honesty and allows it to bypass the logical, linear, self-preserving left brain. This method is a means of self-discovery, brutal honesty and a gateway to solutions you’d never believe were in you.
Every day that passes, I have less anxiety about solving the problems I encounter. I know God is there and will never give me more than I can handle. I know I must start by looking within and making sure my thinking is clear and coming from a place that believes a solution is there and all I must do is locate it. I know I must use what I’ve learned to unlock my right brain, where creativity lives and flows freely.
Bring it on world. I’m ready….
