I have two thoughts for you today.
The first is about problem solving, and the second is about not giving up.
Let’s start with problem solving.
You have a problem.
I have a problem.
We all have problems.
Problems are simply part of our daily lives. And if you’re anything like me, when you hear the word problem, your instinct is, Let’s find a solution.
So you find one.
And it works.
At least, it works once.
You make a mental note of how you solved that problem. Maybe that same solution works again in a different situation. Maybe it works several times. And then one day, it doesn’t.
At that point, you begin to narrow things down. You start doing analysis and observation. Was that solution just a fluke? Or is it actually repeatable?
That leads to what I think are three criteria for good problem solving.
First: Did it work?
Second: Did it work more than once? Is it repeatable—at least some of the time and under identifiable circumstances?
Third—and this matters more than we often realize—can you articulate why it worked? Is there a rationale that holds the solution together?
Now let me turn to the second thought: not giving up.
I’ve come to the conviction that most problems should not lead to resignation.
They are not endings.
They are obstacles.
Yes, there are times when you pause.
There are even times when you quit—especially if you’re going in the wrong direction or pursuing something that is genuinely fruitless.
But most of the time, when we quit, we could have kept going.
I’ll give you a simple illustration.
I play a game on my phone—actually, two games.
One is jigsaw puzzles. I like them with 144 pieces. That number fits my time frame and gives me just the right amount of mental exercise.
The other game I play is FreeCell, a version of solitaire. And I refuse to lose.
Let that land for a moment:
I refuse to lose.
Now, what if you brought that same posture into your problem solving?
Refuse to lose.
Now, that doesn’t mean you never stop. Sometimes you put a comma there. Sometimes a period. Sometimes you move on. But most of the time—refuse to lose.
Here’s what I love about FreeCell.
First, I’m not competing against another human being. Everyone can win. Nobody has to lose. I don’t want my winning to depend on someone else’s losing. That’s just a disposition I carry through life. Most of the time, we’re looking for win-win outcomes.
Second, it’s a forgiving game.
If you go the wrong way, you can go back. There’s a backspace.
Some people play without that feature, but I think life actually does give us the capacity to correct many of our errors.
The game teaches you to think ahead—If I make this move, what happens next? And then after that? It teaches patience, sequencing, and foresight.
I don’t like to quit that game until I win.
It’s not over until I win.
Now, I know that life is not exactly like a game. There are errors we cannot correct. We can’t rebuild relationships with people who have died. Some things remain broken.
But in many cases—more cases than we think—we can go back, recognize where we went wrong, and make a different move.
In FreeCell, you can go all the way back to the beginning if you need to. But most of the time, going back three or four steps is enough to correct the error.
And so it is in life.
You look again at what worked.
You look for what was repeatable.
You ask whether there was a sound rationale behind the move you made.
Sometimes the solution is reusable.
Sometimes it’s a one-time answer.
So I’ll leave you with a few questions.
What are the problems you’re struggling with right now?
What solutions are you looking for?
What kind of analysis is going on in your mind?
And what kinds of mental exercises help you learn problem solving the way jigsaw puzzles and FreeCell help me?
Because problems are not the end of it all.
They are obstacles.
Issues that need resolution.
We can learn from them.
And we must learn from them.
That’s enough to listen to today—and enough to think about.
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