Does it sound weird when I say learning to appreciate our problems helps us a great deal?

Perhaps not if you don’t go by the face value of the article title. What I mean about appreciating our problem is actually a powerful technique used in problem solving. Appreciation technique essentially involves drawing maximum amount of information from a basic fact. It is mining to the last detail from a simple statement of fact. This is a technique employed by military planners.

The method consists in asking a simple question, ‘so what?” or even ‘what happens then’ or any other frame of questions so that the implications of a fact are brought out to the last detail. By moving from one level to another, we can reach the bottom of the consequences of a fact and thereby draw all kinds of possible inferences. For e.g., we could take a simple issue:

Simple fact: It rained heavily last night.
We need to ask ‘So what?”
Sales was affected at the currently held exhibition sales
‘So what happens?”
Targets are missed
‘So what then?”
Try to intensify sales through added incentives during the last days of exhibition.
“So what happens?”
Sales could improve from the new incentives offered, more so because of the exhibition sales coming to an end.
This is from the business angle. We can look at things from various other perspectives so a wholesome picture can be gathered. This way we could go on until we have exhausted all possibilities of a fact from all angles. In this manner we would have thoroughly mined the information from the bare facts to gain a complete comprehensive view of the issue or fact at hand.

In making such a decision-making process nothing can be more appropriate than the Mindmapping tool. Mindmapping is a powerful and simple technique that uses various functional characteristics of our brainpower. In noting down all the points arising from plodding into a fact, mindmapping technique helps in capturing all the fast flowing thoughts in the quickest possible time. Using concise words the essence of our thought process is conveyed. Also, any connected thoughts, relevant or irrelevant, can also be noted down for exploring them further. Mindmapping as a tool kindles creativity and helps us see the various associations that exist between different aspects of our life due to its inherent working principles.

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