Dealing with Complex Problems

How do you go about dealing with complex problems? Lou Tice, in this post from the Winners Circle, seems to suggest that maybe we’re trying to hard to solve the complex problems we face in life.

When you have a complex problem to solve, how do you go about solving it? Today, I’ll give you some information that might help you.

Sometimes, when we have complex or difficult problems to solve, our feelings of being under pressure cause us to push so hard for solutions that we wind up spinning our wheels. We study the problem from every possible angle, collect huge amounts of information, struggle hard and do lots of analysis. Still the answer evades us.

Some of this is because it’s hard for us to tolerate feeling confused for very long. We want certainty, and we want clear answers. But sometimes it’s better not to push it. As the head of theoretical physics at Los Alamos National Laboratory once said, our unconscious is an important factor in solving complex problems.

This means that while you certainly need to collect all the information you can, and sometimes literally immerse yourself in the problem, at some point it is important to back off and leave it, trusting that creative, productive mental work will continue even if you’re not aware of it. Peak performers of all kinds demonstrate this and researchers confirm it: analysis and intuition are partners in creative work.

People who won’t relax their dependence on concrete, countable information often just can’t see possibilities that don’t fit into what they already know. But, if you’re willing to let go for a while and let your creative subconscious have a turn, you may be surprised and pleased at the results.

Lou Tice
The Pacific Institute

I am someone who finds it difficult to relax when I’m trying to solve a problem. It seems that that is in itself probably making a solution harder to come by. And yet, I do know from my own experience, that when I’ve studied everything I can lay my hands on, looked at all of the possible solutions, and then left the problem alone and ‘slept on it’, the right answer has materialised. It’s surprising how often it does happen that way. But I hadn’t linked the relaxation and allowing the sub-conscience to work with actually being a part of the solution.

Another thought-provoking post from Lou Tice at the Winners Circle; as so many of them are. It came to me as one of the regular daily emails I get from subscribing. Do please consider subscribing yourself if you think you might benefit from more of them – it won’t cost anything.