Hard Problems

We can push really hard on hard problems and not get anywhere. The problem may be too fixed to get fixed. It may be too tough to push over. It feels like the problem is going to win.

What if you didn't push? What if you took a quiet, calm, centered approach to truly observing the problem. What exactly is going on? Who is being served or deterred?

Hard problems can benefit from soft solutions.

What do you think? Is it worth a try?

-- doug smith

 

Centered First

Sometimes it's more important to be centered than to be right.

-- doug smith

 

Gently

This moment is yours. Hold it gently.

-- doug smith

 

Balance Requires Movement

Can you stand still on a bicycle? How about a unicycle? 

I remember trying to learn a trick during my Mustard Seed Theatre Company days that involved juggling while standing on a teeter-totter. "You've got to keep moving..." said Peter. "Standing still won't get it done."

In today's world balance is highly prized. We want balanced, centered lives where our work hats do not prevent us from wearing the other hats of our lives. But, balance doesn't require stasis. Instead, to stay balanced, we need to keep moving.

Steady, controlled, disciplined, calm, we move and find a rhythm that works.

How is your balance today?

-- doug smith

 

Awareness

To resist a problem also resists the solution.

Solutions begin with awareness.

-- doug smith

Suggested Problem Solving Guidelines

Centered problem solving relies on problem solvers who are focused, mindful, centered individuals. Working collaboratively is easier when the team members are personally fine. Here are some suggested guidelines for working together in a way that helps sustain that sense of centeredness.

Speak and act with clarity, creativity, courage, and compassion.

That's it.

These are also four core strengths of leadership, with the fifth being centeredness (which results from careful attention and development to the other four.)

None of us are perfect at any of these key strengths. Putting them together in focused combination bonds and builds us in ways that are far more difficult otherwise.

Clarity, creativity, courage, compassion, and centeredness: it's the heart of centered problem solving.

-- doug smith

 

It Takes Discipline

 

Have you ever solved a problem quickly, only to have the solution break on you?

Solving problems requires collaboration. Unless we cooperate with other people, and they with us, our solutions will rapidly unravel. 

We also need discipline. Old problem-sustaining habits must give way to new solution supporting actions. We need to be able to hold our center, breathe thru our perceptions and hold onto helpfulness.

Even if you reach a solution to a problem quickly, it takes discipline to make the solution stay.

-- doug smith

Inner Problems

Inner problems have a way of finding outer reactions.

They get in the way of solving anything, until we solve them. Until we're centered, we're off-kilter, and that's a tough position to solve anything.

The outer reactions that inner problems bring create conflict, tension, complications...a long list of challenges.

Yes, we must solve problems. Maybe a good place to start are those problems hiding inside us.

-- doug smith

The New Problem Is New

Solving a problem gives you confidence, and that's useful. The challenge is that the next problem is brand new. The previous solution likely won't work. The previous process toward reaching that solution might not even work. The new problem is new.

Stay creative. Stay centered. Focus on what you want and find ways to bring that about.

We may not be able to solve our next problem with the solution that worked for the previous problem.

-- doug smith

Find the Center

At the center of your problem may be what's right, not wrong.
Stay curious. Stay centered. Focus on your goal.

-- Doug Smith

My Problems Are Part of My Day

Do you ever have days when it seems like the whole day is one big problem? The problems add up little and big until all you can focus on is your problems?

It doesn't usually need to be that way. We can center ourselves around other blessings, other gifts, other circumstances. We can see everything that is going on and not just the turmoil.

I'm working on that today. Rather than having a big problem define my day I am working on letting the fun in, too. I am staying open to newness, to freshness, to kindness, and more. My problems are just part of what's going on and they are certainly not who I am. When I center myself, I can get closer to who I really am and detach from what is pulling my spirit down.

Please excuse me if I don't let my problems spoil my day.

There's so much else to experience.

-- Doug Smith

What have you learned today?

Remember We're Part of The Problem

Have you ever gotten so deep into solving a problem that you missed the fact that you were part of the problem?

I don't like it when it happens, but sometimes I realize that the problem only exists because I've created it. I put it there. It's the results of my actions.

Sobering. Disconcerting. Not fun. But, sometimes we're the problem.

Centered problem solvers realize that their part in the problem may be tough to see, yet it's likely there. What we do in looking at the problem has a lot to do with who we are. When we take the time to center ourselves before reaching conclusions, we end up with better conclusions.

Sometimes as we analyze a problem we are also analyzing ourselves.

Are you open to that?

-- Doug Smith

Front Range Leadership: Training Supervisors for Success

doug smith training: how to achieve your project goals

Keep Focused

Did that big problem throw you off center? Do you have an unresolved problem that's distracting you from your goal?

Centered problem solving keeps us focused whether or not the problem is solved.

We stay focused when we remember to come back to our center, to breathe, to stay aware of what is going on right now without judging it or pulling it into the past. Centered problem solving keeps us grounded when the emotional wind threatens to blow us away.

Find the balance you need for this situation, right now, within your strengths of courage, creativity, clarity and compassion. Somewhere within that reserve is your ability to solve that problem and remain focused during the difficult work of finding the right solution.

You can do it.

You've done it before.

-- Douglas Brent Smith

The Targets of Our Anger

What makes you angry?

Do you ever feel anger and wonder where it came from?

Sometimes I've noticed that anger appears out of scale with the thing that seemed to trigger it. Maybe it's an accumulation of aggravations. Maybe it's a sustained patience that has become unsustainable. Maybe it's a lifetime of little disappointments. The anger boils, flairs, and erupts. At that point it can be highly unhealthy.

We lash out. We shout. We blame. We break things. Humans can be so sloppy sometimes. We lose our center and our balance lists like a ship in a storm. Our storm of anger rocks our world.

Maybe you haven't experienced this, and if not, maybe you've seen it in other people. It can scare.

Where the anger heads though isn't always where it belongs. Fall out occurs. Innocent feelings and people are hurt.

The targets of our anger are seldom the cause of our anger.

We punish the wrong people. We overreact to minor disagreements propelled by the build up of restraint.

What's the answer?  What do you do to defuse your anger? How do you manage your center?

Without pretending to know THE answer, I would say that some of it is preventing the build-up. Staying true to your values. Opposing unfairness in the moment, instead of tolerating. Staying assertive so that aggression seldom become necessary.

In other words, staying centered. Staying mindful of our circumstances and speaking and acting with courage when courage is needed. For if we suppress or deny our courage, our anger takes control.

-- Douglas Brent Smith