Problem Solving Skills

I still remember that sinking feeling I had when I learned that I was going to have to write lots and lots of papers in my Masters program of Social Work at Tulane University in New Orleans back in 1997.

And I didn’t know how to type. OMG!

What was I going to do?

Not only were there tons of papers to write but they were LONG papers.

There was no way I could learn to type in a short time.

Time to problem solve…

Aren’t there people you can hire to type for you?

I went searching for that person who needed to be reliable, type fast, and be close to where I lived.

This was a big problem.

I searched at school, asked friends, looked in the paper, everywhere I thought I could possibly find someone.

Finally, I did find someone who met all the requirements.

We worked out a schedule…I would drop off my handwritten paper, yes HANDWRITTEN… to her several days ahead of the deadline.

That meant there was no possibility for changes once I gave it to her.

But I found a way to work it out.

Was it stressful? Yes, indeed.

And did I find that sometimes I wanted to change things in the paper?

Yes, but I just had to go with it because there was no changing anything.

And that’s the thing. There is always more than one way to do something.

If I had known ahead of time that there would be tons of papers I needed to write and that all of them had to be typed, I really don’t know if I would have done the program and gotten my master’s degree.

But once I was in the situation and HAD to come up with a solution, I found one.

Creating is mostly all about problem solving.

There is no one solution for any obstacle you may come across. There are always lots of solutions.

But sometimes we feel stuck because we think there are only one or two possibilities.

I find that the more possibilities I can come up with in my paintings the more fun it gets.

This is how you exercise that creative muscle of yours.

The more you push yourself to think freely and openly the more options you have.

When you come to a place in your painting that stumps you, pause and then write down a list of possibilities.

Think WAY outside the box and your comfort zone because the first ones will be your typical go-to solutions.

But the more you write, the more you delve into the way-out-there ones, which can lead to something extraordinary and magical.

I encourage you to do this little exercise because you’d be surprised how many unique ideas you’ll come up with.

I hope that when you are in a challenging situation you tell yourself that there are lots of ways to make it work, and when you do this, somehow you’ll find a way.

* Click HERE to watch Part 1 of my Blue Monochrome Collage video.

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