Problem Solving 101
This morning as I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I heard my three-year-old daughter, Madelon, in the living room having a bit of a "hissy
fit." It seems that the puppet show window that I had set up for her had fallen down and she couldn't get it back to the way it was. I told her
that she wouldn't solve her problem by stomping her feet and pouting. She needed to stand back and look at what was wrong with it and then think
of a way to fix it.
As I went back to my work, I pondered this particular piece of advice and decided that we could all learn a bit from this. When I am frustrated
by a research problem, I am often driven to my own brand of "hissy fit" like banging my head on a wall—but this can cause headaches. Sneering and
growling are also kind of fun but other than entertaining my daughter, it is not much help. Sometimes I'll put that branch of the family aside for
a bit. While there is something to be said for putting it aside and coming back to it later, it will not solve the problem.
The first thing to do, as my daughter now knows, is to take a...
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