Problem Solving

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus depot, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a Pathan got on. Six feet four, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the conductor and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Conductor didn't argue with Pathan, but he wasn't happy about it.

The next day the same thing happened – Pathan got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way the Pathan was taking advantage of the poor conductor.

Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.

So, on the next Monday, when the Pathan once again got on the bus and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!”

The driver stood up, glared back at the Pathan, and screamed, "And why not?”

With a surprised look on his face, the Pathan replied,.......... "Pathan has a bus pass."
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For 20 years Prof Edwin R. Keedy of the University of Pennsylvania's Law School used to start his first class by putting two figures on the blackboard: 4 and 2.

"What's the solution?" he would ask.

A student would say, "Two" but Keedy would pass him by. Another would say, "Six". Several people would shout the final possibility, "Eight" and the professor would shake his head.

Finally Keedy would point out their collective error, "All of you failed to ask the key question" What is the problem? Ladies and Gentlemen, unless you know what the problem is, you cannot possibly, find the answer."

This is deadly serious. In everyday life, too much time is spent trying to think about and solve the wrong problem - like polishing brass on a sinking ship.

The common problem is we don't try to understand whether a problem exists or not at first place and usually have very strong temptation to jump in with a solution (or suggestion / advice if problem belongs to others). It is much easier to suggest solutions when you know nothing about the problem. It would be like creating a solution without a problem, searching for an answer without a question. There is no such thing as "solution" if "problem" is nonexistent (many times it is in our imagination eg unfounded fear etc). Unfortunately, all this result in wastage of effort, frustration and may worsen the situation instead. Before you start trying to solve a problem, you need to be sure that a problem exists. Then discover precisely what it is, where it is, why it is there and then decide whether it is important enough to warrant time and effort in solving it. Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists. Otherwise, you will probably end up solving the wrong problem or nonexistent problem. Always first try to define what the problem is and then understand the root causes to find best possible solution(s). And remember, still there will be some problems in life that cannot be solved, that are facts to be lived with, to be coped with over time, and hence it is always better to make peace with them. Life would be much easier if one learns to identify if there is a problem at the first place before working on a solution.
A problem clearly stated is a problem half solved. - Dorothea Brande
As long as you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem. - Stephen Covey

Changing a Person

Once there was a small boy whose grandma had given him a drum for his b’day. He loved the drum very much, and played with it all day long – bang, bang, bang – much to the annoyance of his parents and neighbors.

The parents pampered, begged, warned, scolded, gave fear the young boy to stop, but he ignored them and just carried on – bang, bang, bang – all the day.

The parents in desperation, sought the help of a respected doctor. The doctor tried explaining to the child how constant noise was damaging his eardrums.

But the advice was too advanced for the child, who did not know what an eardrum was, so he went on playing.

The parents called in a respected teacher. The teacher tried giving the boy a book of instructions, saying that if he read the book his drum playing would improve.

But the child found the instruction book too long and boring and so he abandoned it and went on playing.

Then parents sought the help of a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist gave the boy some meditation exercises and some lessons in anger management.

All that happened was that the boy slowed down his playing for a short time and then, refreshed, would start playing again all the more vigorously.

Then a sufi, a wise man, who happened to be passing, heard the tale of little boy and the drum. He listened to the child for a short while and then handed the boy a hammer and chisel, saying, “I wonder if you can find out what’s inside this drum?”

People do not change their behavior just because you want them to. Reasoning, morality, punishment, threat, fear or anger may help on the surface to alter their behavior temporarily but not from the core of their hearts. You are already defeated if employing these methods. People don't change their behavior unless it makes a difference for them to do so. We all choose to make changes, and there has to be a personal motivation that prompts the person to change their behavior – either potential pleasure to be gained or the potential pain to be avoided. Try to look at people's behavior in terms of their dream, goal/ambition, needs, wants and motives. You alone cannot change people behavior, only they themselves can. However, you can influence them to do so by setting your own behavior example and by motivating, encouraging, praising, supporting and if possible rewarding their sincere efforts for either gaining potential pleasure or avoiding potential pain.

Understanding Importance of Ownership

Whether problem is our own or of others' related to us in one or other way, the common behavior seen is either self pity or apathy. In case of our own problems we just complain, whine, whimper, crib or blame. In case of others' problem we stand on the sidelines just watching or talking in apathy. There are always self inflicted barriers to problem solving and no concern is shown to own, get involved and participate in solutioning process. These barriers generally are: A "Yes, but'' attitude either to delay the solution or to avoid problem or ownership; wait and do nothing or others will tell me what to do; one can't blame me; It's because of circumstances or destiny or fate; quit or run away; this is so difficult or impossible to do.;I have no clue; I should always ask for help from others; it's not my problem and should not do anything; I'll simply pass the problem to someone else; intellectual defensiveness, positional rigidity or stubbornness closed to new ideas; fear of being perceived as being incompetent; fear of one's ideas being unaccepted; inability to be objective about the problem; fear of being wrong; fear of coming out of comfort zone thinking more losses and disturbance could be faced than benefits from solution; inability to be creative, imaginative or "off the wall'' in developing alternative solutions; being inflexible or too serious to have fun while problem solving; being so chronically immersed or emotionally "stuck'' in problems that no feelings or emotions can be elicited; believing that one's emotions and feelings about a problem are "wrong'' and should be discounted in problem solving; rigidity or resentment about having to solve the problem; blaming others for causing the problem; no desire to own up to the problem; believing that problems are the concerns of others not me, therefore, why waste my time in trying to solving them; mental and/or physical fatigue from  trying to cope with problems and finding no fruitful solutions; burnout; feeling so stressed, anxious or tense in the face of a problem that your body systems shut down; getting so angry about the problem that all energy and attention is drawn to the anger rather than to the problem; feeling sorry for oneself so much that the "self-pity'' overwhelms and obstructs all creative thinking on the matter; getting so down or depressed about the problem that it is impossible to come up long enough to deal with the problem; denial that the problem exists; bargaining in dealing with the problem e.g., agreeing to perform certain steps only as long as the solution to the problem benefits you. The obvious point is that no concerned efforts are contributed to own, get involved and participate in solving the problems. What could be a greater pity than that in case of your own problems a resigning, complaining or blaming attitude is shown which does nothing but invite more troubles, losses and pains.

The tendency to whining and complaining may be taken as the surest sign symptom of little souls and inferior intellects. The way we see the problem is the problem. Most people spend more time and energy going around problems or just waiting, watching or talking than in trying to solve them. You won't find a solution by saying there is no problem. Hot heads and cold hearts never solved anything. Nothing can come of nothing and the shortest answer is do something about problem. If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. Have you got a problem? Do what you can where you are with what you've got. In any situation, ask yourself: What strengths do I possess that can contribute towards solving the problem. If you think there's a solution, you're part of the problem, no problem is too big to run away from and the best way to escape from a problem is to own and solve it. What all is needed that one should stay calm, go through all the materials he/she has carefully, and  think about every possible cause and solution, and experiment them. One should immediately own the problem and be responsible for finding the solution if not on his/her own then in a cooperative and collaborative manner by getting actively involved and contributing as much as one can. If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time. When one's own problems are unsolvable and all best efforts frustrated, it is lifesaving to listen to other people's problems. When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.  You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.

Ten Great Steve Jobs Quotes

Here are a few of quotes from Steve Jobs :

“Let’s go invent tomorrow rather than worrying about what happened yesterday.”
—D5 Conference: All Things Digital, May 30, 2007

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.”
—Bloomberg Businessweek, February 6, 2006

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”
—The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs, 2011

“The problem is, in hardware you can’t build a computer that’s twice as good as anyone else’s anymore. Too many people know how to do it. You’re lucky if you do one that’s one-and-a-third times better or one-and-a-half times better. And
then it’s only six months before everybody else catches up.”
—Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994

“What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”
—Memory & Imagination, 1990

‘Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful—that’s what matters to me.’
—CNNMoney/Fortune, May 25, 1993

One of the reasons I think Microsoft took ten years to copy the Mac is ‘cause they didn’t really get it at its core.
—Rolling Stone, June 16, 1994

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
—Commencement address, Stanford University, June 12, 2005

“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. I don’t mean that in a small way. I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their products. I have no problem with their success—they’ve earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products.”
—Triumph of the Nerds, PBS, June 1996

“I get 50 cents a year for showing up…and the other 50 cents is based on my performance.
—AppleInsider.com, May 10, 2007

No one ever finds life worth living - one has to make it worth living

In 1923, one of the world's most successful financiers met at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. Financially, they literally 'held the world by the tail'. Anything that money could buy was within their grasp; they were RICH-RICH-RICH! Look at their names and the positions they held:

CHARLES SCHWAB was President of the largest steel company.
SAMUEL INSULL was President of the largest electric utility company.
HOWARD HOPSON was President of the largest gas company.
ARTHUR CUTTEN was the great what speculator.
RICHARD WHITNEY was President of the New York Stock Exchange.
ALBERT FALL was Secretary of Interior in President Harding's Cabinet.
LEON FRASER was President of the Bank of International Settlements.
JESSE LIVERMORE was the greatest 'bear' on Wall Street.
IVAR KRUGER was head of the world's largest monopoly.

We must admit, that here were gathered a group of the world's most successful men of the time: Men who had found the secret of making Money.
Now let us see where these very men were 25 years later in 1948:

CHARLES SCHWAB lived on borrowed money for five years and died bankrupt.
SAMUEL INSULL dies a fugitive from justice and penniless in a foreign land.
HOWARD HOPSON turned insane.
ARTHUR CUTTEN died insolvent abroad.
RICHARD WHITNEY was just released from the Sing Sing Penitentiary.
ALBERT FALL was pardoned from prison so he could die at home - broke.
LEON FRASER committed suicide.
JESSE LIVERMORE committed suicide.
IVAR KRUGER committed suicide.

What happened in 25 years? They were brilliant in their respective field. They mastered the art of making money and the art of enjoying material life, but never learned HOW TO LIVE! A vast amount of their talent and potential went down the drain! Their lives were out of BALANCE! Do we know HOW TO LIVE A BALANCED LIFE? Do we know the PURPOSE and then place the foundation of our lives on VALUES based MEANS which last, bound to make life worth living and help achieve the purpose. All this give a meaning to life to live or otherwise we are just spending time here. We are always getting ready to live, but never living. We never live and are always in the expectation of living. Unless we decide to get into things, values and means that really matter we are bound to turn into people who really do not matter. The great use of life is to spend it for something to give it a big meaning that will outlast it. The price of this all important something is the amount of life we exchange for it. What we are exchanging our lives for and how many of us are really aware of this?