Expand your problem to solve your problem
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Hey, what are you up to?
Here's a great problem solving mind trick that will make all those big bad problems seem like inky-dinky little problems that you can solve a lot easier.
Make your problem a lot bigger
Sounds crazy, huh? Why would you want to give yourself even more hassle, more confusion, more effort and more challenge?
By changing your scale of reference and the way you frame your problem, you change the way you feel about it.
Let's say you are a college wrestler and you have a tournament bout coming up. The guy you are to fight against is bigger than you. Oh no! What a problem!
But now what would happen if you imagine that instead of that one big guy you actually have to fight against 5 big guys? Imagine they're all on top of you and pinning you down and you have to struggle with all your might to try and move but it's next to impossible. What if you actually trained like that in real life -- you got 5 buddies to act as your opponents -- and you face up to this monumental task and struggle against insurmountable odds.
What's going to happen when you only have to fight the one guy in your tournament? It'll seem so much easier by comparison!
Making your problem look easy to solve
Try this technique out on YOUR problems and challenges. If you have a big sales quota that you have to achieve, imagine that it is 20-100 times greater and brainstorm how you would achieve that super big quota. Struggle with that idea and how you would achieve it. When you finally look back at your real sales quota, it will seem a lot more manageable.
Making your problems and tasks bigger and more challenging and mentally visualizing what you'd go through to meet that challenge or task, and then going back to your real problem is a great technique for getting rid of the fearful, critical, procrastinating inner voice. The change of scale makes your problems seem smaller and much easier to accomplish. Once you let go of the fear and doubt, your creativity can just do what it does best and come up with the ideas and solutions you need.
Upwards and onwards,
Wily Walnut
Hey, what are you up to?
Here's a great problem solving mind trick that will make all those big bad problems seem like inky-dinky little problems that you can solve a lot easier.
Make your problem a lot bigger
Sounds crazy, huh? Why would you want to give yourself even more hassle, more confusion, more effort and more challenge?
By changing your scale of reference and the way you frame your problem, you change the way you feel about it.
Let's say you are a college wrestler and you have a tournament bout coming up. The guy you are to fight against is bigger than you. Oh no! What a problem!
But now what would happen if you imagine that instead of that one big guy you actually have to fight against 5 big guys? Imagine they're all on top of you and pinning you down and you have to struggle with all your might to try and move but it's next to impossible. What if you actually trained like that in real life -- you got 5 buddies to act as your opponents -- and you face up to this monumental task and struggle against insurmountable odds.
What's going to happen when you only have to fight the one guy in your tournament? It'll seem so much easier by comparison!
Making your problem look easy to solve
Try this technique out on YOUR problems and challenges. If you have a big sales quota that you have to achieve, imagine that it is 20-100 times greater and brainstorm how you would achieve that super big quota. Struggle with that idea and how you would achieve it. When you finally look back at your real sales quota, it will seem a lot more manageable.
Making your problems and tasks bigger and more challenging and mentally visualizing what you'd go through to meet that challenge or task, and then going back to your real problem is a great technique for getting rid of the fearful, critical, procrastinating inner voice. The change of scale makes your problems seem smaller and much easier to accomplish. Once you let go of the fear and doubt, your creativity can just do what it does best and come up with the ideas and solutions you need.
Upwards and onwards,
Wily Walnut
Labels: creative thinking, problem solving
