#75 Brainstorm Solutions If after defining the problem a solution doesn’t present itself, you will need to brainstorm. Needless to say brainstorming requires more than one person. Your brain has been storming since you started defining the problem. Now it is time to involve someone else. The best people to solicit for your brainstorming session [...]
If problems aren’t solved they can accumulate and start to overwhelm us. The ability to solve them as they come up is essential to are mental and physical health. Problems come in several varieties. They can be the show stopping type that can’t be ignored and have to be solved before any forward progress can [...]
I made up this modern-day parent’s version of the Sermon on the Mount a few years back in preparation for a talk at church. The other day a friend of mine asked if he could get a copy. So here it is Dave. 40. And if any sibling will sue thee to thy parents, and take [...]
#71 Rely on Experience Now that we have discussed relying on the present and the future, we need to learn to tap into past experiences. This strategy also relies on a pause to allow yourself to scan your past for relevant data. That seems simple enough, but it will only work if that data is [...]
The inability to anticipate outcomes is cousin to not being able to learn from mistakes. The main difference is that learning from mistakes requires us to analyze one situation and plan for a better outcome; whereas, anticipating outcomes is not based on a single, clear situation. It requires that we pull together relevant data from [...]
#67 Picture Next Time The human brain sees very little difference between a real experience and one that is vividly imagined. I once heard of a study done using imagination to improve free throw shooting on a basketball team. Some of the players were told to shoot physical free throws. Others were told to just [...]
In my work with parents and children with ADD, and my work as a coach of youth sports I always emphasized progress rather than perfection. Perhaps the most important element of progress is learning from past mistakes. Making the same mistakes over and over is not progress at all but a frustrating and discouraging situation. [...]
#63 Hit the Shower Sometimes the best way to fight off the mattress magnet is to find something with equal or greater attraction. A nice hot shower may be one such thing. On cold mornings the pull of the mattress magnet is greater but a hot shower also sounds better. That equally or greater attraction [...]
