Have you ever watched a child wrestling with a problem?
If so, you’ll know that children solve problems in a very different way than adults do. And the truly amazing thing is, children haven’t spent any time developing creative thinking skills at all!
So as we poor souls struggle to bring creativity into our thinking or problem solving, we couldn’t do much better than to take a close look at the way our children solve problems. The natural ability of a child can teach us a lot and this is the technique that you can master today.
A child approaches a problem with an open mind, uncluttered with worldly things and untainted by other peoples’ opinions. Now, I’m willing to bet that that’s generally something you don’t habitually do. Instead, you probably approach a problem with a few preconceived notions about how it’s all going to come out in the end. Your subconscious scenarios will inevitably narrow the avenues available to your thought processes, shackling any creative bursts that you may have before they have been given the freedom to fly.
Maybe you’re the sort of person who regularly comes at things with a negative attitude, perhaps even viewing the whole problem solving process as nothing more than a time-consuming annoyance. A child, on the other hand, looks at any problem to be worked around as an engaging game. To them, problems are a great mystery and they are excited about finding a way to unravel them.
Do you become frustrated when you can’t fix a problem right away?
Children often become more intrigued and will try different things until they find something that works. They will take great delight in experimenting and will often get lost in their own world as they keep working at it until they succeed. Adults are far more likely to give up or just ask someone else to do it for them!
A child solves problems with wonder, amazement and persistence. Adults want problems to solve themselves because they see the time spent doing so as time wasted. And this is the key point here – and one that will unlock your creative thinking skills faster than just about anything else. Children see problems as a wonderland of discovery, worlds to get lost in as they explore. We adults tend to be so worried about the time a problem will take to solve that we fail to experience the joy of actually reaching a solution!
So, here’s your homework for today – practice flipping your attitude towards problem solving and come at it as a child would. Cultivate a feeling of eager expectation of discovering new and creative solutions and relish the experience instead of becoming irritated at the time spent on the task. If you can master this technique, you will find that solving problems becomes easier, more enjoyable and ultimately, faster.
Your creative thinking skills will automatically become more childlike, elevating your problem solving skills to that of an art not an inconvenience!
Author: Jane K. Thomas Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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