PROBLEM-SOLVING THINKING

One thing is obvious in terms of developing your expertise in problem-solving—you have to up your game in how you think and the quality of your thinking. That’s been implied in all of these articles on problem-solving. And no wonder. Problem-solving is primarily and centrally a matter of how to think through a problem to its solution. And the problem with most of our attempts at solving a problem lies in all of the wrong ways we use to think about the problem.

I discovered this when I first began to think through the actual structure of a problem and when I came up with the anatomy of a problem. Just with that I suddenly realized that the first discernment for problem-solving rests in distinguish external problems from internal problems. And with that realizing that while we call those external conditions and constraints that exist ‘out there’ in the world beyond our skin ‘problems,’ they are actually only the references of our problems. That’s because what exists out there, is what exists out there. It’s only a problem if we don’t like it and/or if we think it is blocking us from some goal.

That’s the first discernment. The second one is the different between the problem and how it is expressed in our body as symptoms, primarily emotions, but also as psychosomatic responses. Now while emotional symptoms and psychosomatic symptoms can be very problematic, they are not the problem. And true enough, it is often highly important to manage those symptoms, and sometimes before we can get to the problem itself. This is especially true of stress and all of the stress symptoms (e.g., fear, anger, guilt, blame, etc.).

Without making this second discernment, many people in ‘solving’ the symptoms falsely think that they have solved the problem. But solving the symptom only puts a bandaide on that symptom and does not address the cause of the problem—the thinking. Why do symptoms get such attention and focus? Mostly because they are loud, demanding, and inescapable. You feel them in your body. They take up your attention and energy. They make a lot of noise!

Discerning Internal Problems and External Conditions

| The way you think, perceive | How you act and respond |

|-----------------------------|-------------------------|

| Mental- emotional | Physical |

| Meaning | Cause |

| Creativity | Innovation |

| Takes an instant | Times time |

| Intangible, no measures | Tangible, measurable |

| Triggered by questions | triggered by plans |

| Leading | Managing |

Beyond those first two discernments is an insight that is central to effective problem-solving: Problems contain lots of rich information. Wherever there is a problem, there is a mental construct of a gap between what you are experiencing today and what you want to experience. This current state—desired state gap speaks about your perceptions, understandings, beliefs, values, intentions, identity and much more. If you avoid thinking bad thoughts about problems and instead, embraced and explored problems, you would discover a lot about yourself.

Without that insight, however, lots of people condemn problems, judge them as bad, spend energy hating them, despising them, etc. When this continues, then due to our self-reflexive consciousness, they do something even worse—they start judging and despising themselves for having the problem. This doubles the problem, creates new symptoms, and makes them even less able to solve problem. The pain and suffering grows exponentially.

Problem-solving thinking at its heart involves the meta-probe. That’s because the thinking that creates the mental blocks (or problems) preventing us from achieving our goals occurs in levels. It can occur at the first level of representation, at the meta-level of editing the movies, at the meta-level of drawing conclusions (beliefs), and it can occur at the next level up (beliefs about beliefs) wherein all of the forms of thinking (values, identity, memories, imagination, decision, intention, etc.), all specific kinds of beliefs can interact with each other creating complex constructs. After that, problems can arise at the unconscious level of assumptions.

Without the ability to go meta, to distinguish meta-levels, and to think in terms of meta-states, a person cannot get to the heart of the matter. Every problem strategy occurs both horizontally as representational steps and vertically as meta-level frames that creates classifications and interpretations.