How To Get Better At Problem Solving

I recently had the pleasure of playing “escape room” with a couple of friends and their friends. I barely knew some of these people. We started without any expectations and were doing random stuff that pleased each of us.

Over the course of one hour, we banded into an incredibly coordinated unit. We never actually thought we had a chance with the escape room, as the puzzles seemed incredibly challenging. But to our surprise, with a minute to spare, we actually “escaped”!

So, how did we do it? Was it because we were all very good problem solvers? I don’t think so. We were actually doing a lot of seemingly “dumb” things. This really made me think a little deeper about what it takes to be a good problem-solver.

This essay features my mental notes on this topic. My escape room experience is central to my thesis. So, we will eventually come back to it. For now, though, let us go back to a timeline when problem-solving stops being fun for most folks.

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The Bane of Problem Solving: Childhood Discipline

If you think about it, problem-solving requires a certain level of focus and analytical ability. The former (focus) does not come naturally for most children. Children tend to focus on whatever catches their attention in the moment.

So, naturally, most children are not innate problem solvers in the conventional sense. But the entire adult realm wants them to be. Teachers and parents tend to discipline children to try and drill “focus” into them.

This works, in that, children learn to focus under pressure. But as soon as they are not supervised, they tend to run amok with play. There is something fundamentally wrong with this dynamic.

Children with such a background tend to have a rough start into the world of adult problem-solving. And can you blame them?

On the contrary, some children tend to grow up with an affinity for problem-solving and relish in the world of adult problem-solving as well. So, what did they experience differently?

The Boon of Problem Solving: Childhood Play

I did mention that due the lack of focus, most children are not innate problem solvers in the conventional sense. This is because most of us look at children with adult lenses.

It turns out that children are excellent problem solvers when it comes to play. “Play” has a special property to it called “fun”. And the fun grabs the child’s focus in every moment.

It turns out that the children who tend to be excellent adult problem solvers were not typically disciplined for not solving math problems. On the contrary, they were taught to approach such problems as “play”.

If you are interested in some research on this topic, I highly recommend the work done by Carol Dweck.

Okay, all this information is phenomenal if you are a parent or a teacher who takes care of children. But how can someone as an adult get better at problem-solving?

I am glad to share that this is indeed possible! But first, the let us look at what stops us from getting better at problem-solving as adults.

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The Bane of Problem Solving: Adult Discipline

Let us go back to my escape room experience. I strongly remember one aspect: I did not do anything that I did not want to do. It was “play” for me. If it was not fun, I was not doing it.

This brings us to the world of adult problem-solving. Universities train students to be good employees; employers require their employees to behave well. Work is “work”. There is no room for play.

A few years ago, I was solving a very difficult problem, and my best efforts failed. I sat their laughing at my own inability to tackle the problem, whilst thinking of how I can approach the problem better.

My boss at the time came over and expressed his genuine concern that I was not “serious enough” about the problem. Do you see the issue here?

How to Get Better at Problem Solving as an Adult?

In my experience, there are two aspects to getting better at problem-solving as an adult:

1. Find ways of making problem solving “fun” — play rather than work.

2. Practice a “never give up” attitude.

The first point requires creativity and knowing oneself well. When you have figured that part out, the challenge is to communicate your “playful” style with other adults and integrate them into it.

The second point is tricky. People often think that a “never give up” attitude means that you sit on a problem and don’t budge until you solve it.

On the contrary, my experience suggests that one has to give up often and early. Remember: if it is not fun, you are probably not enjoying it.

The trick is to say, “I feel bored now. I’ll come back to this problem in a bit. But I am certainly not done with this problem yet. I will crack it.”

This approach has worked wonders for me. Now, I get that certain problems are time-bound, and you need to solve them then and there (not all of adulthood can be play).

What I am saying is, try out this (or a comparable) approach whenever you have the luxury to do so. It will likely make you a better problem solver even in time-bound situations.

I recently had to solve a problem in under hours. I was taking several five-minute breaks to “break” the onset of boredom. As you can see, one can get really creative with this approach.

Conclusion

I would like to sum up by saying that the art of good problem-solving revolves around “play”. Sure, one needs to build the experience and expertise in technical areas.

But without the aspects of “fun” and “play”, any problem becomes a chore to solve. And life is too awesome to be a series of chores. I find it heart-breaking when people live their lives that way.

I hope this essay gave you a fun and playful take on problem-solving. With that, I wish you happy problem solving!

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Further reading that might interest you: 

• Equality Vs. Equity: How To Be Fair?
• What Is The Best Age To Become An Entrepreneur?
• Why Do Stupid People Think They Are Smart?

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