Paul McKenna presents a short guide to improving problem solving by first calming and reframing the mind and then actively generating solutions. He illustrates the point with the anecdote of George Bernard Danzig—who solved two famous unsolved statistics problems because he assumed they were homework—and cites the law of requisite variety to argue that mental flexibility increases influence and control.
Chapters
The human mind is like a problem solving machine, and its seemingly infinite creative ability has led to continual innovation and development in the fields of art, science, architecture, medicine and more. In fact, some people say the only limit to the creativity of the human mind lies in people's beliefs about what's possible. One of my favorite examples of the ability of the mind to solve problems when unfettered by a limiting belief is the story of George Bernard Danzig, a student who arrives late for a math class and saw two problems written on the blackboard. Assuming they were the day's homework, he jotted them down, but found it took him longer than expected to actually solve them. When he handed in his homework a few days later, his teacher seemed taken aback and Danzig quickly apologised, explaining that they were a bit more difficult than usual. The equations that he'd solved had not meant to be homework at all. They were the two famously unsolvable problems of statistics. Because George Janczyk didn't know he was supposed to be able to solve them, he was able to bring the full power of his creative mind to the problem. His work was later published in academic papers and his story became legend. The point is, when you tap into the genius and creativity of your mind, solving even the most difficult problems becomes possible. Here are the two steps to effective problem solving. Tools. One, Put yourself into a calmer, more relaxed state of mind and put everything that's going on into a new, more positive perspective. Two, Begin generating solutions. There's a scientific principle called the law of requisite variety, which says that the part of a system that has the most flexibility ends up in control of the system. In other words, in any given environment, from a corporation to a family to a political party, the person who has the most flexibility in their thinking and behaviors will be the most influential person. Or to put it more simply, the more ways of looking at something you have, the more choices you have. The more choices you have, the more likely you'll end up in control. Sa.
