Small guide to problem solving

Having a problem means that we know what we would like to happen, but we don't know how the hell to get there.

• I have a broken tap, and I wish the water would stop flowing. And I'm afraid to break it even more.

• My son seems seriously intent on not doing homework. What I do? do I threaten him? Do I let him manage it independently? Do I promise him money?

• I wish I was not alone, to find a partner. But I have no idea how I could do it.

• I would like to get better at cooking pizza, and I'm getting lost in an ocean of videos on Youtube ...

Problem solving is often seen as a magical ability, made up of intuition, creativity, intelligence. One thing for a select few.

If I am lucky enough to be done in a certain way, I will deal with big and small troubles in a brilliant way. If not ... I will suffer.

Leonardo da Vinci

His brilliant problem solving

Me ...

... and my problem solving

In a  behavioral approach, however, the key element of problem solving is the knowledge of rules.

The rules are nothing more than a description of the relationship between my behavior and certain consequences.
Rules.

There are good, decent, bad ones.

The more good rules I know, the better I manage in general, and in particular in problem solving.

When I have a problem, I miss the rules. And somehow I have to find them.

Experts know a lot of rules related to a specific field. This is why they manage to get us out of poop situations. My mechanic knows that a particular color of the smoke coming out of the engine is indicative of a certain problem and he knows, let's say for example, that changing the oil filter will fix the car.

Knowledge, therefore. But we must be able to identify the sources of the most reliable rules.

Let's take pizza. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of recipes. We find them in books, on the internet, everywhere. How do we understand who we can trust? How can we identify the good rules?

In important areas such as health, good rules are all evidence-based. If I have a cold, I have to understand if the rules I find (a doctor tells me, I read them in a book, ...) have experimental studies behind them.

In everyday life, however, I am not always lucky enough to be able to use the sieve of the experimental method. There are no evidence-based rules for making a good pizza or for finding a partner.

A very good indicator is whether the behavioral indications are explained or not. If the logic behind something is explained to us, perhaps we are lucky.

Why are walnuts good with gorgonzola cheese? Don't ask me, because only the rule was given to me, and nobody explained to me why. 

If I follow the rule, I will also have a good result, but I am not in a position to solve similar problems.

I know that gorgonzola is fine with walnuts, but I have no elements to understand what I can combine with another cheese.

Short guide:

• Be clear. Realist language is always preferable.

• Look for evidence-based rules. If they are not there, look for rules that explain why, not just how.

• You still need a lot of luck, and that comes on its own. Maybe. 

• Try to solve problems that have already been solved. Learn to expand the rules you already have, to use them as a basis for creating new ones. 

Find out why gorgonzola goes well with walnuts. From there you can solve the problem of pairing other cheeses. Your pizzas will always be better.

Find the good rules. And then expand them if necessary. Good luck.