We are problem solvers

How many times have you been confronted with a problem or issue and feel compelled to solve it? How often have you been told that you must at least try to do something? When you talk to others, do many tout their ability to analyze and solve problems?

Generally, if you ask people, they will tell you they do moderately well at problem solving, or at least think they do. However, history has shown us that nearly every stride forward has been after several missteps along the way. How many inventions created are sitting in the scrapheap compared to the ones that succeed in developing a market? Consider the number of startup companies that make it compared to the number that fail. Each of those failures had enough promise or potential, otherwise the attempts would not likely have been made.

We are conditioned to believe that it is noble to learn from our mistakes. We are taught this from early childhood. From a perspective of problem solving and critical thinking, why would we champion this idea? From a results point of view, it logically makes more sense to not make mistakes in the first place. Instead we are continually failing and then trying again, following the old and reliable method of solving problems, the trial and error method.

This technique is widely known to be practical and effective. When you do not have the experience to already know the correct solution to the issue at hand, then you are urged to try something to see if it will work. We repeat these failures until a success is achieved. Is that critical thinking or demonstrating proficient analytical methodology?

While some failures in the trials could be from simple bad luck, many are likely attributed to decisions based on faulty analysis or evaluation of available information. Applying critical thinking and analytic techniques, the success rate of attempts to solve problems can be increased greatly. The optimum outcome would succeed at every attempt. Please reference my previous post on the problem solving loop.

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