The problems, the problems! They spend their whole lives smashing our heads. From those who gave us the school to teach math to the ones we meet every day. The good thing is that before we faced the former, we had teachers who taught us how to solve them. .
But what can we do to deal with it in real life?They lack established formulas that always have an exact result, don’t they?While there is no exact method that tells us that if we do such a thing, it will have some consequence, we can guide ourselves through the problem-solving technique that will help us make the most appropriate decision.
“I am not a product of my situation, I am the product of my decisions. -Steven Covey-
Conflict is part of life and we are all affected by it. Humans are inherently problem solvers, although some people have more of that built-in “nature” like others. What does that suggest? It’s a skill that can be developed. Is that why D? Zurilla and Golfried idealized problem-solving therapy in 1971.
This technique facilitates the work of identifying problems, creating different solution alternatives and selecting the answer that can be most effective among the proposals developed, in this way we will have an additional tool to control the negative emotions that may arise before different obstacles.
To do this, we have to follow a five-phase method that I will explain in more detail below. The procedure is long, but it is worth setting it up for important problematic situations. The steps to follow are:
The first step before trying to solve a problem is to take a positive attitude to the conflicts and skills we have to deal with them effectively, it is necessary to foster beliefs of self-efficacy, assuming that we can solve the problem and identify the ballasts. with which we begin, like the lack of security in ourselves.
On the other hand, it is important to change our view of the problem. Instead of thinking about it negatively, which will make it difficult to find the solution, we must face it as a challenge that will help us to grow personally, to improve our own skills.
“Good-natured people are better at inductive reasoning and creative problem solving. -Peter Salovey-
In addition, we need to be able to stop and think before we act to complete this first phase of the process, this is important, because if we act impulsively, we will make mistakes when trying to solve the problem.
Once we assume that there are problems and we can find the right solutions, we will move on to the next phase, at this stage we will try to define and formulate the conflict correctly, this is very important, because once we understand the challenge precisely, we will have come a long way.
A good idea is to start by compiling the relevant information, describing it in real and specific terms, it is very important to rely on objective facts, that is, how they would be represented by a video camera, which cannot record our thoughts, but only what is happening, beyond our considerations.
It is also necessary to identify why this created situation is a conflict, and it is also necessary to reassess its meaning for personal and social well-being, we must finally realize that not all problems can be solved and those that are not. involve varying degrees of difficulty. It is necessary to establish a realistic solution goal. Can we even divide a more complex problem into different ones?problems?whose solution is easier to execute.
When we are able to achieve the above steps and know the exact problem we face, it is time to generate as many solution alternatives as possible, this can be a difficult task, because we are used to automatically responding to conflicting situations, but we have to spend time working on them: as much as a first task and thinking about another task. In fact, it has been proven that changing the air allows for more creative solutions.
The more workarounds we produce, the more ideas available and the more likely we are to find the best answer to our own conflict. We will also be able to generate better ideas. It is important to remember that at this stage we do it. We do not evaluate the quality of the solutions, because judgment inhibits imagination, so we will evaluate them at the next point.
Now is the time to compare and evaluate the different alternatives we generated in the previous step, based on the evaluation we make we will select the best or best one to implement based on the problem we have.
How do we do that? For each proposed solution, we will indicate the short and long-term costs and benefits to select the solution or set of solutions that we believe will help us achieve the expected results, for this we rely on four criteria:
With the results we get, we’ll need to check if the problem is fixable, whether more information is needed before we can implement an alternative and which one to choose, otherwise it will be necessary to go back to the previous stages of the process. to come up with a satisfactory solution.
Once the right solution is chosen, what remains to be done?Put it into practice !, only in this way will we know if this is the right alternative to overcome the problem situation, once executed it will be necessary to observe objectively and compare the result obtained with the predicted one, if we discover that it was unplanned, we will have to find the source of this discrepancy in order to correct it.
“Action is the key to any success. -Pablo Picasso-
Finally, when we solve a complicated problem, many times we forget to do something important that is to reward you, there are people who spend their lives from anguish to anguish and when they don’t, they anticipate, doing this is undoubtedly one of the best ways to find yourself buried under the stone of stress.
The important thing in all this is that we must stop playing with the problems of the head, look for solutions but without putting them to work, which causes a severe discomfort or even leads to anxiety or depressive disorders.
You have to take a risk and make a decision, take a step forward. There is no problem in being wrong! Who is perfect? Person! Therefore, it is better to make a bad decision than to think and think without doing anything, now that you know how to do it, I invite you to find the solution to the challenges that arise in your life.
Images courtesy of Ryan McGuire.