Tag Archives: problem-solving

“Fall in love with the problem…”

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“Fall in love with the problem, not the solution.”

—Kaaren Hanson, VP of Design /Innovations/ Intuit

QC #853

Through the course of our lives, we have all developed strategies for success which we apply to the daily challenges we face in our professional and personal worlds.

As long as these default solutions work reasonably well, we rarely seek alternative solutions that may actually work far better.

When we embrace, and even fall in love with, the problems we face, we generate a higher ability for innovation and creativity, discovering possible solutions that were previously unrecognized.

EXERCISE:

How might falling in love with your problems help you release some of the “sacred cow solutions” you have used over the years? What new and potentially more successful solutions would be possible?

“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem and a concerned person solves a problem.”

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“There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem and a concerned person solves a problem.”

—Harold Stephens, American Author

595

Image from Flickr by Debs

Have you ever watched a mouse racing around one of those circular wheels, never getting anywhere? They run and run and always end up in the same place. Alternatively, think about running on a treadmill. We get all worked up and sweaty, but find ourselves in the same place.

Worry is like that. In this case, the treadmills are in our minds. Concern, on the other hand, seems to have more of a mobilizing quality that takes us out of our heads and off those treadmills so we can set out on a journey to an eventual solution.

Exercise:

Where would a shift from worry to concern mobilize your thoughts and actions toward a successful solution in some important professional or personal issue today?