Effective problem-solving leads to solutions

"Problems are a part of life."

They have accompanied us since birth, and will continue to do so until the twilight of our lives. But this is no reason to get upset. In fact, the thought that problems happen to absolutely everyone should come as a welcome relief.

Problems are not the result of being a bad or good person. They happen to good and bad people alike. Sometimes, even despite of our best judgments and careful planning, problems still meet us in the most unexpected circumstances.

Here are some tips to conquer your problems:

Trace the root of the problem.

The best way to start finding a solution to a problem is to try to figure out how the problem started in the first place. If you find yourself lost in the middle of the road, the chances are that you took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. This is why you need to go back, retrace your steps, and discover where you have gone wrong. This way you would be able to figure out which way you should go, which roads to avoid, and how to get there.

Don’t sweat the little things.

Little problems are best dealt with by giving them a shrug of the shoulder. Having a bad hair day or breaking a nail is not reason enough to break into fits of hysteria. Sure, it is annoying; but get over it! People will be surprised how a little change in their attitude can go a long way in solving their problems.

In fact, a lot of problems people are facing will dissolve if they only change their attitude. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of their lives, and being so cynical, they should instead try to make the best out of every situation. If you are not satisfied with the situation you are in, you should strive to make some positive changes in your life.

Confront your problems.

Not confronting problems can lead to bigger issues. Before problems can be solved, they must first be dealt with. For example, a person pretending not to be sick when he very well knows that he is suffering from an illness will not help him solve this problem. In fact, this will only make the situation much worse, if he refuses to seek out the medical attention that he needs.

The problem with choosing to ignore problems is that they can lead to bigger problems. Some who choose to escape their problems may turn to alcohol, drugs, or other self-destructive behaviors simply because they want to avoid the problems they are encountering. This, in turn, becomes a part of the problem. Instead of finding a solution, they find bigger problems.

Ask for help.

Strength comes in numbers. One of the best ways to quickly solve a problem is to ask for help. This is where friends and family come in. Not only will they be physically able to help you, they can also be a source of emotional help as well. Not only that, they would be able to throw in some ideas that just might be the key to finding the solution to your problem!

Having some problems does not mean that it is the end of the world. It just means that you are going to have to work hard at finding the solutions to your problems. By going through this process, not only will you solve your problems, but you can gain a lot of knowledge and wisdom along the way!

Creative Journey using a magazine to increase creativity and learning

Read essays, articles, or books on creativity and you will more than once you will read that you can increase your creativity and create new ideas by reading magazines that you wouldn’t typically read. The suggestion is to go to your local newsstand and pick up magazines you wouldn’t ever read and read them for ideas, connections and trends.

This is an often repeated example of using outside stimulus as a way to jump start our creativity.

I have read this suggestion many times. I’ve suggested it myself. I’ve even done it a few times. But I’ve never seen anyone show someone an example of doing it.

Until now.

Earlier this week I found the April edition of Wired Magazine in my briefcase as I traveled. I had picked it up a couple of weeks before in an airport because I was drawn to the cover, which suggested that the main focus of the issue was “The New World of Games.”

While I am not a current subscriber to Wired Magazine (used to be) and you might not be either, I think you will find both the process and my results enlightening and fun.

My Process

Reading a magazine for creative insights is pretty easy. Get a magazine, a highlighter, and perhaps some paper or your Journal. Then begin reading. Don’t skim or read only the things that are immediately or naturally interesting to you. Read everything. Read the articles AND the ads. And while you are reading, be asking yourself things like…

What does this remind me of?
How does this relate to my situation, problem or challenge?
What did they do that I can do?
How could I use this?
How can I learn from the experiences or suggestions in the article (or ad)?

These certainly aren’t the only questions you can ask, but they are enough to get you started. You can go into this creative journey with a very specific challenge or problem in mind, or you can just do it to see what serendipitous ideas you generate – either way is fine!

In this case, my journey was a random one – I wasn’t thinking about a specific issue or challenge, I was just reading to see what I might find.

How to Read the Rest of This Article

The rest of this article will provide some of my ideas and what spurred them. I encourage you to read on observing my process and seeing what ideas or insights you get from my insights. In other words, I encourage you to use the process I just described on the rest of this article!

You may also decide to go to the library and get the April 2006 Wired Magazine to see all of what I am describing.

My Journey

… page 26 – a side bar asks the question, “Is a half hour show too long for today’s viewers?” Three people answer with different perspectives. My first reaction is that this is an interesting question…. And my second was that the answers given basically come down to the quality of the story. If a good story is told, people will watch (hey, we sat through 3 + hours for Titanic!) So while this is an interesting question, it is a bit backwards. The relevant question is, how good the story? This relates to my work in terms of training – how long do people want to learn at one sitting, etc. Do I think that times are changing? Sure I do. But people are still people. They will worry less about time is they are engaged. In the end – whether through story or great interaction in a learning situation, the right question is how can we engage people, not how long is the experience.

… page 29 – Lexus presents a four page advertisement for a PBS series with Charlie Rose. It contains very interesting excerpts from two shows in the series. This content was so compelling to be almost worth the price of the magazine itself – far better than many articles I have read in the past. It reminds me that advertising can be relevant and that when we educate and inform others in a valuable way, we might do a better job of marketing, persuading, or selling, than by trying to market, persuade or sell.

… page 56 – talks about a feature film based on a Beastie Boys concert. This movie was created from footage recorded by 50 fans from cameras the band gave them for the length of the concert to film their entire experience. Over 100 hours of raw amateur footage was edited together for this movie. Though I don’t own a Beastie Boys album and haven’t been to their one of their concerts, I am completely captivated by this idea! It appeals to me because the band got this idea and implemented it (the collection of the footage) in 3 days – from conception to footage. 3 Days. This has been challenging my thoughts about how long it takes me to implement or being willing to implement something . . . fast. It also speaks to the power of getting your Customers involved in the experience of your product or service. This two thirds of a page has had me thinking a lot in the last few days.

… page 66 the Play section of the magazine shows pictures and brief descriptions of new products. One on this page is called the Storm Tracker (This is an umbrella that has a bulb at the end of the handle that collects forecast information from local forecasts (wirelessly) and tells you if you need to carry it, based on how much it blinks. The more it blinks, (up to 100 times per minute) the more likely rain will fall. While I don’t see many people paying $99 for this, I was intrigued by the use of a small “non computer” device to give us data that we might be able to use. While I don’t design products like this, I am fascinated by how these types of technologies might be able to aid, impact or influence performance and learning in the future. The Storm Tracker has opened my eyes to be watching and thinking about this question.

These examples get me through less that half of the magazine, and I didn’t even share all of my insights from the first 66 pages!

Source: PLR document

How to Think Outside The Box

When innovators talk about thinking outside the box, they mean coming up with creative ways to solve problems - new ways to look at things. How do they do it? How can you do it too? We first have to ask what the "box" is. Then we can look at how to get outside of it.

The "box" is the normal way of doing things and looking at things. It is the assumptions that almost everyone involved is making. The best way to start thinking out of the box then, is to identify and challenge all the assumptions that make up thinking inside the box.


One of the major liquor brands was faltering years ago, and they couldn't seem to boost their sales. Promotions, lowering the price, getting better shelf placement - these were the "in the box" solutions. Then someone challenged the assumptions, by asking "What if we stopped the promotions and just raised the price?"


The price was raised as an experiment, and sales soon doubled. As it turns out, some types of liquor are bought quite often as gifts. Buyers don't want to buy the most expensive one, but they also don't want to seem cheap, so they won't buy products that don't cost enough. Now imagine what happens to your profit margins when you raise the price and double the sales. That's the power of thinking outside of the box.


Ways To Get Outside The Box


Challenging assumptions is a powerful creative problem solving technique. The difficult part is to identify the assumptions. If you are designing a new motorcycle, write down assumptions like "speed matters," "it has to run on gas" and "it needs two wheels," not because you expect to prove these wrong, but because challenging these can lead to creative possibilities. Maybe the time has come for an electric three-wheeled motorcycle.


Another way to get to creative solutions is to "assume the absurd." This is either fun or annoying, depending on how open-minded you can be. All you do is start making absurd assumptions, then finding ways to make sense of them. The easiest way to do it is by asking "what if."


What if a carpet cleaning business was better off with half as many customers? It seems absurd, but work with it. Hmm...less stressful, perhaps. More profitable if each customer was worth three times as much. Is that possible? Commercial jobs that involve large easy-to-clean spaces (theaters, offices, convention halls) make more money in a day than houses, with fewer headaches. Focusing on getting those accounts could be the most profitable way to go - not so absurd.


Another way to more innovative ideas is to literally do your thinking out of the box. Get out of the house or the office. Look around at how others are doing things. On busses in Ecuador, salesmen put a product into everyones hands and let them hold it while they do a sales pitch. Then you have to give back "your" product or pay for it. It is very effective. How could you use the principle in your business?

Innovation and creativity

Creativity is what sets you apart from your competitors.

Competition may have influences on your business, but if you are creative enough you won’t ever have to fear competition. Fortunes are often born in creative minds. A simple idea can turn into a never ending stream of cash. If you innovate, there are no limits or boundaries for you. The sky is the limit.

So, it can be said that one of the most important factors a company may have is the ability to come up with fresh ideas, new concepts, sophisticated marketing techniques. People like new things. Everyone wants to create something new. People struggle to be different in today’s marketplace.

If you do a simple research you will find out that creativity is one of the things that make people become rich. Often, the more you create the more money you make. This requires effort and dedication. To see the opportunity where no one else see it.

I firmly believe that fortunes can be made. You simply have to define a problem and find a solution. Then capitalize on that solution. Problems are everywhere and the bigger the problem that you find the solution to, the bigger the chance you will make a lot of money from your idea.

You can create anything. It can be an invention, an e-book with information, art, a scientific breakthrough, etc. Just find a need and try to fill it. I guess you have heard that many times already, but it is true. The easiest way to make money is to help other people make money or help them solve their problems and receive some compensation from your efforts.

Isn’t that what capitalism is all about? To allow people to become rich by enriching other people’s lives? You don’t need to chase money nor go after wealth. When you add value to the life of others you usually receive compensation for it. The best way to add value is to come up with a creative solution that no one thought about before.

This is not always easy. Sometimes the ideas will come fast and smoothly. Other times you will have to think hard about the solution. Keep in mind that the harder the problem and the better the solution, the more money you can make from it.

At the end making money may not be that hard for you. Once you get used to it you can do it often. The business of innovation has always being one of the most profitable businesses you can participate on. Creativity is something that come from the inside. It originates within your mind.

This is certainly one of the most important factors that an entrepreneur should take into consideration. It can make a huge difference in your businesses. Remember that there is no limit to what you can create. So, you can make a lot of money by just adding value to the life of others and finding solutions to complex problems that you can find everywhere.

The decision is yours. Most people work hard all their lives because they try to imitate what others do all the time. Work on those creative skills and improve them. You will be glad you did.

It doesn't take a genius to create something new. You don’t have to be too smart. Sometimes the ideas originate from your intentions or they just come to you. Probably you already have thoughts about how to improve something or create something new that does not exist yet. You just have to polish that idea and give it a try. You may be amazed at the results.

Seven Steps to Success - Positive Thinking and Your Creative Mind

You have a bright idea hidden somewhere in the back of your mind that you just can't wait to test out. The question is, do you really want to bring it out into the light? What could motivate you to churn your creative, inspiring juices to their utmost flavor?

Did you know that it always helps to set a time limit to your personal goals? Set yourself up so you can accomplish the most tasks in record time. For example, mowing the lawn in an hour before the big game on TV. A correct and positive attitude in whatever you do will make things easier, and even enjoyable.

It's simple. If you begin to allow yourself a bit of positive thinking then you will begin to realize things that you never thought possible. Thinking big is indeed the American Way and that what made our country prosperous. You can follow other great Americans who tapped into their creative mind and began to thing big..

Discover some tips to make it through your first week of possibility thinking even if you're just sitting in your favorite couch. Your mind is constantly at work for you. Tap into it's great resource while doing everyday activities.

1. Act. You must take passionate action towards living your life by design. Talk is cheap. Action = deposits in the bank of a passionately authentic future. My mother (probably quoting someone else) always said, "Action speaks louder than words". Without action, passion is void.

Dreams become reality when you simply start by tinkering with your mind, then with your hands. And if the idea weakens or falters you can always go back to it later until you finish it. Thomas Edison and his Dream Team had to go back to the idea of a light bulb and recalculate it over 1,000 times before the first working light bulb begin to light the world.

2. Love. Commit to yourself. Then commit to those you love to powerfully create a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American Dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.

3. Live. Embrace moments and opportunities. Recognize and embrace the thought that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Every time you hit on something that may appear too extreme why not give it a shot anyway. See if it will work. You may be surprised with the results. If you are not then decide to use that moment to learn from it and make the appropriate shift. Learning and growing from mistakes and failures is a part of living.

4. Be grateful. Dwell completely in a place of gratitude. Learn to utilize what you have in your hands and make use of it in the most constructive way. Necessity is the mother of invention. Have you ever been stuck without something you needed and had to make do with something else? (MacGyver,from the famous tv show, was famous for that!) How grateful were you that you had the means to solve your situation? Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift towards gratitude and away from poverty consciousness.

5. Be Passionate. Use a Passion Formula of Recognize/Reevaluate/Restore in place of the Shoulda/Woulda/Coulda whirlwind. The former is based on increased knowledge and abundance while the latter focuses on scarcity and lack. As you face people or tasks that may seem harder than scaling the summit of the Himalayas, allow yourself to realize that the task is just as important as giving out orders to your subordinates. You would rather be richly passionate!

6. Laugh. Keep humor at the forefront of thought, laughing at and with yourself whenever possible. You may find yourself quite entertaining when you loosen up! I have yet to see a comedian ever go hungry even though his jokes are as 'old as great-grandma'. Life has too much to offer to allow yourself to mope around in self pity. Humor is very attractive, very passionate: life-giving.

7. Discover Your Purpose. Believe that you are the architect of your destiny. Realizing how you wish to be remembered when you pass from this life is a truly driving force. Your purpose for being can be a seemingly simple as being a great parent to as elaborate as discovering miraculous cures.

When you have a strong purpose no one can take your passionate future from you except for you! Truly, as long as there's still breath in your body, there is no end to how much you can accomplish in a lifetime. Discovering and following your purpose will enable you to enjoy your work. Celebrate in the discovery that acting on your creative mind's thoughts is fulfilling your purpose. Watch everything flow into place with perfect, passionate precision.

Activate your positive thinking. Stretch your imagination. Think bigger than you feel comfortable. Act on your thoughts. The number one tip here is action. You want to start practicing these steps.

Think about this: It is unfortunate that so many people still do not use a computer because it appears too complicated to begin using. Or maybe they just keep putting it off till a more convenient time. These are just a couple of limitations one can set up for themselves. Limitations and failure to act on ideas and opportunities leave many as a dim bulb in a dark corner.

Alert! You are not doomed to darkness. You are interested in living a life of purpose and love. The wonderful, creative idea in you is about to be released. You are interested in doing this because you are reading this article. Fortunately if you truly desire something, the will to attain it will open your creative mind to find a way.

Now you need only to begin to act on your desire to create. Act now! Make your path to creativity and follow your purpose. Take your first step today with a positive attitude.

The seven keys to your creative genius

Here are seven ways you can instantly access your natural creativity and create anything you like.

1. Think Like A Child. As adults we tend to think in a conditioned way aimed at showing how clever we are. Yet, as children, we were simply spontaneous and far more creative in our thinking. To re-capture your childhood curiosity, allow yourself to just wonder at things, to be completely present in the here and now, and to detach yourself from what you thought was real.

2. Make New Connections. To be innovative doesn't require a university degree; it simply requires making a connection between existing ideas. For instance, did you know that ice cream was invented in 2000 BC yet it took another 3900 years for someone to come up with the idea of a cone? It's when you take two seemingly unrelated items and use the spark of creativity that genius happens.

3. Be A Little Illogical. It is a peculiarly Western trait to want to tie things up in neat bundles. We prefer solutions to problems, and answers to questions. To be creative, you need to be comfortable with things that don't fit

4. Laugh More. The creativity of a workplace can be measured by a laughometer, i.e. how much it laughs. Humor is one of the greatest creative devices. It jolts us out of our normal patterns and puts ideas together that shouldn't go together. It has been found that after listening to comedy tapes, students’ ability to solve problems rises by 60%.

5. Think Outside Your Limits. Many of the products we take for granted today are the result of people thinking outside their limits. John Lynn recalls attending a computer conference in the 1980's at a hotel when someone joked that the next thing they'd be thinking of would be computerized doors. When he went back to the same hotel 20 years later, all the doors used computer-programmed key cards.

6. Adopt and Adapt. To be creative doesn't require blue-sky thinking. You can still be creative by adapting what works elsewhere. An American airline that wanted quicker turnarounds on their flights adopted the techniques of Formula One pit crews. Another source of ideas is nature. Georges de Mestral adapted the way certain seeds stick to clothing and invented Velcro.

7. Remember Your Dreams. Dreaming and day-dreaming can create a rich seam of ideas, because that's when we relax and let the subconscious mind work by itself. The Roffey Park Management Institute calls this "washing-up creativity" because most flashes of inspiration come when we are walking the dog, sitting Archimedes-like in the bath, or doing the washing up.

Apply these seven creative thinking techniques and make them part of your daily thinking and I guarantee that new solutions to your problems will open up to you with ease and speed.

At the Heart of Every Invention Is a Problem Waiting to Be Solved

When you sit down with pad and pen trying to think of that next great invention idea, you often find yourself staring at a blank page in frustration. You dig deep into the recesses of your mind, but nothing seems to come up and grab you instantly. When this happens to you, there's no reason to give up, while some inventions are inspired by a specific circumstance, most inventions involve lots of research and planning. In fact, one of the easiest ways to come up with a great invention idea is to look for a problem to solve.

How to Identify a Problem That Needs Solving
As people evolve, so do their problems. One of the first problems to be solved, back during the time of cave dwellers, was the need to stay warm when the sun went down. Now, humankind didn't invent fire, but learning how to create fire at will was a problem that needed solving. You can imagine what kinds of experiments went on when humans first tried to make a fire.

People probably sat around for countless hours pondering the situation, and they must have tried out dozens of innovative ideas, before finally figuring out that rubbing two sticks together caused enough friction to create a spark.

Since those early days, our society has grown increasingly sophisticated. With every new lifestyle advance comes new complications. With every new virus that is cured, another mysterious one pops up to take it's place. Problems are everywhere, but it's your job to figure out which ones can be solved with an innovative invention.

The first place to look for a problem with potential is in your immediate environment. What types of problems do you encounter on a regular basis?

Have you ever said to yourself, someone should come up with a way to fix this or that?

Is there something that really bugs you about a product or service you use?

These are all things that you should be writing down in your invention idea notebook.

Another good source of ideas is the people in your life. Listen carefully to the complaints of your family, friends and co-workers. People complain about all sorts of things. While it's easy to brush them off as just someone blowing off steam, you may find a few golden nuggets to write down in your notebook.

You can also type in various problems into an internet search engine to see how many people complain about that same issue. If the problem is common enough, it may be a good candidate for a new invention.

Researching the Problem
Once you've gotten a good list of potential problems that could use an innovated solution, your next step is to see if there are already inventions out there on the market for each problem you found. This will probably be very time consuming, and you'll need to look at various resources, including doing a patent search.

As your list narrows down, you'll probably find one or two ideas that could be quite profitable. Here's where you can put on your inventor's cap and get to work on those creative solutions. Some of life's best inventions start out as a unique problem that is begging to be solved.

Idea Design Studio is a full service invention design company that concentrates on taking great ideas and bringing them to the marketplace. If you have an idea and are looking for investors, this invention design service can set you up with the right people. Visit Ideadesignstudio.com NOW!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jake_Way

Patent An Idea, Change Your Life In An Instant

There isn't a person among us that is not part inventor. And for many, the dream of being able to patent an idea is a very real one.

Can you imagine what life would be like if you could take just some of the ideas that can be patented out of your head and find a real way for them to see the light of day? Can you imagine the life of a patent owner? It has to be remarkable.

Think of all the amazing ideas that needed to be patented and how much money was created.
When you go to patent an idea, you will need to start with a detailed search. And with the proliferation of the web, that has never been easier.

Your next step is filling out the application. And you need to be as detailed as you can on this stage as even the smallest details need to be recorded by the paperwork people on the other end. Don't forget that your new patent could be an improvement of a previous patent and for many new inventors this is exactly where they focus. Getting a U.S. patent is a very big deal and those that do can sell a patent after a prescribed time.
The big point is that being able to patent an idea is a very large deal and you can accomplish anything from becoming famous to becoming rich from a patent if you hit the sweet spot of what the market is looking for and what the US Patent Office will approve as a new patent.

I know a ton of people who think they can have this happen and yet they have no idea if their idea is worthy of getting a patent. For them and everyone else, I decided to put down a few thoughts on how to get an invention patented.

I too am in the crown of people who want to get an idea patented.
Do you constantly dream endlessly of being able to patent an idea? Here is a powerful website forlearning how to patent an idea!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_D_Browne