Making Decisions and Problem Solving, Stress Relief

Problems, problems, problems.  We all have them and we all need to come up with solutions.  But how do you go about this task?  Do you rely on prior experience, make a pros and con list, procrastinate until the problem either takes care of itself because of your lack of action or do you pass the problem along to someone else and hope that they solve it for you?

The purpose of this entry is not to tell you things you already know, but to remind you of the tools that you have within your reach that you may have forgotten about.  When we were in school we learned all about the various problems solving methods, but somewhere along the way we fell into the habit of using the same method again and again. (let’s hope that method is not avoidance)

Stress is caused when we do not have a plan for solving the problems that enter into our lives.  Avoiding adds more stress.   Think of those things now that are nagging at you, keeping you up at night and what you are doing to take control.   It has been proven that the more stress we endure the less effective we are at solving our problems.   We can actually reinforce stress and thus make stress a habit.  Recall that a habit is “A recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition.” by not attending to the problem and reducing our stress we are making stress a habit in our lives.

There are numerous methods to solving problems.  Here are a few:

1. talk  with someone you trust
2. asking the five whys
3. making a pros and cons list
4. diagramming the problem,  i.e., -Venn , affinity, cause and effect
5. SWOT and PEST analysis
6. risk analysis
7. flow charts
8. appreciative inquiry

If you have forgotten any of these tools that are available to help you, you may just want to brush up on their concepts and add them to your own toolbox once again.

To a more peaceful life and better health, manage your stress!

Problem Solving? Use Your Brain

Continuing on my journey of understanding our brain and how this knowledge can assist me being a better coach I am reading just about everything I can get my hands on.  Problem solving is one area that I deal with daily.  Either through coaching sessions or when teaching my undergrad students Critical Thinking.  When we have a problem, regardless of how big or small, we are utilizing the same area of the brain.    We have been  advised since childhood to focus our attention on a problem in order to solve it.  If we take this advice and look at what is happening in our brain and how our concentration on the problem affects us, we would know that that the more we focus on the problem, the more we wear ourselves out and the more tired and drained we become.  Neither of which  helps to solve the problem.

In an article by Jane Morgan, MA entitled “Seven Big Surprises About the Brain” I am learning that the more attention we give to a problem the more we are using up the limited resources of the pre-frontal cortex or PFC of the brain.   The PFC of the brain is the area where high functioning occurs. It is also an area that takes a great deal of energy.   So every time we are deeply in thought and problem solving we are using this area of the brain.   Our brain likes to make sense out of things and put things in an order that we are comfortable with.  We  have brain maps where neural pathways are formed.  I’m not a scientist, but I do know that if I see a beautiful meadow and each day I walk the same way, I will create a pathway in the meadow where once the grass was talk and thick, it is now worn down.   Using this analogy,  the more we focus on a problem the more we are ingraining those pathways in the brain thus making the problem more concrete.   We need to take a solution approach so that we are creating new pathways or mental maps  rather than embedding the pathways associated with the problem.

So what does this mean?  It means we need to be more focused on the solution rather  than the problem.  As I think of clients I can easily see where they want a solution to their problem, but they keep going back to the problem rather than being solution based.    Being solution based requires you to step outside the box.   You already know the problem, now what can you to do solve it?  Where are your resources? What options do you have?  What approach can you take?  Have you ever encountered a similar problem and if so what did you do?  These are some of the questions you can ask yourself to get into solution based problem solving.

My next topic of research is emotions.  Stay tuned.  This is fascinating stuff!