The problem is not in the problem, it is in the understanding the same!

If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution.
Albert Einstein
In my life skills seminar, I keep repeating that there is no such thing as problem, but is the lack of understanding an issue which creates a challenge.
The first step in any problem solving process is understanding the problem. You would have heard the adage ‘well begun is half done’. The same applies to problem solving also. Once we understand the problem, we can take it that the problem is almost solved.

If a patient goes to a doctor with high fever, the doctor wants to understand why the body temperature shoots up. The same thing applies to blood pressure going up or pulse rate going up. The doctor is not bothered about the symptoms and he knows that they are just symptoms. But, for us the symptoms are the problem! We cannot cure the fever, since we cannot understand the problem!
This principle is applicable to life also.
One problem solving tool which the Japanese gave to the world is root cause analysis. They recommend that whenever we see a problem we should ask ‘why’ five times and then only we will understand the problem. Else we will be addressing the symptoms only and the problem will remain a problem forever!

N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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