I solved a problem today.
I was in the office of a sales executive at the local branch of our credit union, discussing the coverages on a new insurance policy. She had a wooden puzzle on her desk, just begging me to take it apart and figure out how to put it back together again. So I did.
We talked about comp and collision and liability and premiums and deductibles and all kinds of other grown-up words, but all the while, I fought and finagled that stupid wooden puzzle.
I joked about how that set of seemingly rectangular pieces of carefully whittled wood were going to keep me up at night if I wasn't able to solve them by the time she'd drawn up the papers. Once she had them all printed, she began to say "I win" as she slid them across the desk for me to sign, but she never completed the phrase because at the same time, I set the puzzle on her desk, completely assembled.
"Well I'll be. Do you know how many people walk through these doors every day?" She asked. "You're the third person whose ever been able to solve that puzzle in all the sixteen years I've worked here."
Whoadude. That comment got me thinking about the experience of solving that puzzle, and I came upon three elements that came into play:
Determination.All this to say, I had a somewhat revelatory moment today as I sat silently across a room from a complete stranger, effectively cheating on my current insurance provider. And the lesson is this:
I was going to include patience in the list, but then I realized that a person's patience is always directly proportionate to their determination to meet an end. If you really want those donuts, you'll wait in line for as long as you have to wait. If you really want to finish restoring that classic car, you'll wait as long as you have to for the parts to ship. Within the context of problem-solving, patience is a symptom of determination, and determination is what you get when you mix desire with willpower.
Time.
If you could solve it in 10 seconds, it wasn't really a problem to begin with. It was an exercise. It was practice. If it's actually a problem worth solving, it will take time. You'll have to come up with a few wrong answers. You will have to be puzzled, tricked, and baffled speechless. This all takes time, and at the end of all of this, if you have determination and this next element, you will end up solving the problem.
Paradigm Shifts.
It's the best way I can think to put it. First, I envisioned all the pieces mentally, thought about how they would go together, then tried to put them together that way. Naturally, they didn't fit. Then I tried to get them into the same position, only using a different method. That didn't work either. I tried to force it by shoving and squeezing. I knew it wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot. I eventually had to erase my original concept of how it was supposed to fit together, and completely start from scratch with a new understanding of how all the pieces worked (and didn't work) together. It wasn't until I rearranged my thinking that I got it. And you must first arrange your thoughts before you can re-arrange them.
The answers to the big questions can be found in the small things,
if one has the presence of mind to apply his heart to what he observes.
-R.
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