10 simple tips to help you overcome any difficulty while avoiding stress
Sometimes there are tasks in our life that require urgent solutions. As a rule, the more urgently the problem needs to be overcome, the more disturbing sensations accompany it, driving people of a nervous warehouse into stress.
People have been studying the science of quickly and painlessly managing problems for years – in colleges, universities and in special courses. This skill is required from managers and in general from any person – each of us one way or another falls responsible for a certain work process. And we still bypass the problems in our personal lives, which rattle the nerves more strongly, because they involve feelings that are little subject to plan and logic.
When a problem looms on the horizon, we first of all experience an acute desire to avoid it, to push it somewhere, to merge it into a dustbin for trouble. Next comes the obsession with someone who can save, help, or at least take on some of the stress. We begin to look for “help from the audience”: call friends, parents, involve colleagues in conversations “on the topic”, google similar tasks that have already been solved by someone.
Responsibility for words and actions is the most difficult part of decision making. Usually we crave advice to take this burden off our own shoulders. It is easier to advise others than to decide for yourself, and this is the main reason why we love consultations – it creates the illusion that others are more savvy in the matter. But, no matter how seductive the theory of magical advice, the final decision will have to be made independently.
The good news is that problem solving literally prolongs your life because it streamlines your life and helps you avoid stress. Employers are willing to pay more to those who have mastered this difficult science, and your own business is easier if you have methods to deal with emerging obstacles in your arsenal.
You can start right now – by learning ten simple steps that will help solve a problem of any complexity:
1. Bet On Positive
The first thing to do when faced with a problem is to start with a positive outlook. Do not give in to uncertainty, it always contributes to development. Look at the problem as an opportunity to learn new things and test your abilities. Yes, it’s hard to keep a smile under the pressure of a deadline, but having a positive attitude makes things wonderfully easier.
2. Ask Questions
Remember the moments from your school and student years, when the teacher states something incomprehensible, everyone is perplexed, but no one asks questions, not wanting to seem stupider than others? Forget about children’s complexes. Before you solve a problem, you must understand it, and if you don’t understand something, feel free to ask until you get a clear picture. Do not be shy. There are no stupid questions, there are those that have not yet been answered.
3. Think Outside
When faced with a problem, don’t jump to conclusions. The usual approach may not work for specific situations. Give yourself time to think, weigh, understand, discuss what exactly is going on before answering. Any task has more than one way to solve it, and perhaps the most non-standard one will be more appropriate and more effective than the obvious ones.
4. Look at the Root
Sometimes the problem you’re trying to solve may just be a symptom or part of a larger problem that needs to be rewinded before it even begins. It is a difficult path, but a quality result follows a thorough and prompt investigation into the “what”, “where”, “why”, “when”, “how” and “who”. Draw the situation up and down, hang the wall in the manner of detective films, draw diagrams and arrows, create lists and plans. Having revealed the problem in its entirety, you will be able to determine the right course of action.
5. Break Up
A handy technique for solving complex problems is breaking down into parts, which involves multiplying smaller segments until each part is understandable for successful execution. By breaking down the problem into parts, it is easier to see the symptoms, tools, and methods for follow-up.
6. Think Logically
Given the complexity of the problem, having an effective plan that specifies, step by step, what needs to be done and when, is critical. The plan is not only good for reminding the deadlines of each stage, but also as a communication tool for the characters involved in the task.
7. Look for Similarities
The appearance of difficulty leads to a natural question: does the problem have the same initial data over which you happened to win? Often the complexities disguise themselves in context, while at the root the problem duplicates the past. This is even more useful when combined with tip #5: when the content of a task is broken down into parts, it is easier to find that you have already gone through some of them and now you know what to do.
8. Control Your Emotions
Emotions and stress undermine the ability to think clearly – do not let them cloud your mind. Try to maintain rational thinking and consciously manage actions. If you find yourself too emotionally charged, take a break to calm down, for example, allow yourself five minutes of privacy with light jazz on your headphones. And do not forget about measured breathing: pranayama is our everything.
9. Represent Success
It is similar to visualization, where the result is a motivating factor, and the trajectory to it is variable at your discretion. The solution to the problem is transition from one state to another, similar to navigation using a map: you can trace the path from the starting point to the place you want to go, or start from the destination and go back. You are free to choose where to unwind this difficult ball – start where you feel confident.
10. Be Realistic
One of the key risks: to value the solution more than the accompanying information. By relying on superficial evidence, you run the risk of missing the gaps that are revealed by testing, testing, and exploring different points of view. You must be honest and objective, while reserving the right to make mistakes. No matter how tight the deadline is, for the sake of the expected result, you can retreat and restart all the previous steps again. Like you, problem solvers have the ability to evolve and improve – if you’re not successful, start over.
