Lost and Found
One morning I had just wound down a workshop and was involved in a conversation with one of the participants named Roger. We were the only ones left in the room and were rather engaged in our discussion when a lady from the group that had just left walked back in. We both looked up and saw a woman who was clearly embarrassed and distressed. "The remote key won't work, and I can't get into my car," she said. We immediately started trying to help her.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong?"
"Do you need a tow truck?"
"Do you have Triple A?"
"Do you need a ride?"
"Is there someone you can call?"
We went on like this for a minute or two. Then Roger said "Do you have a KEY key?"
The woman was obviously stunned. She said "Oh......oh..........", mumbled something and wandered out of the room looking at her car keys. A few minutes later she was pulling out of the parking lot.
I looked at Roger in disbelief -- both at the sheer obviousness of the question and at my not having thought to ask it in the first place. We had spent all that time trying to solve a problem when the solution was right there in her hand! We both doubled over laughing.
How many times do we get so wrapped up in a problem that we lose sight of obvious solutions right there in our hand?
The next time you feel stuck for a solution try one of these strategies:
- Sit down. Slow your breathing. Clear your head. Adrenaline can get in the way.
- Look for the obvious, seemingly stupid, questions. Sometimes it's a good idea to talk to someone who knows nothing about the problem, even if it's a technical one.
- Shake up your viewpoint by picking someone totally foreign from your way of thinking and imagine what they would do. Maybe Attila the Hun, General Schwarzcopf, Daffy Duck or Mother Teresa. How would they approach the problem? The idea is just to get unstuck and get some new ideas flowing.
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