Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Creative Problem Solving
At a party recently, I was explaining my work to a woman I met. She was an arts educator and she said, “It sounds like you’re a creative problem solver.”
Well, thank you! I think I am. My area of expertise seems to be solving problems in home and office, rather than loftier crises of environment and government, but hey—we all do what we can.
Here’s why you want to be a creative problem solver too.
There are people all over the world trying to figure out how to solve your problems for you. Not the big thorny ones like climate change and government shut-downs, but the little ones, like opening a jar of olives, or what to give your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day. Of course, the trick is that when you use their solution you have to buy it: the jar-opening gadget, the newest, cutest, heart-print socks.
But when you are a creative problem solver, you look around at what you already have. You say, “Gee, I bet if I cut a square out of that grippy shelf-liner I used in the kitchen, I could use it to get that jar of olives open.” Or, “Maybe I can use up the rest of that baking chocolate I bought over the holidays to make my sweetie something sweet for Valentine’s Day.”
The point is to challenge your creativity and resourcefulness rather than to just hop on Amazon or whip out the credit card to solve problems. After all, when you solve a problem with a purchase, you’ve only created another problem, like where to put your new gadget, or socks, or whatever. When you improvise a double-boiler, or brine the turkey in your ice chest, or make all your birthday cards with the kids’ (copious) art supplies, you’re just getting maximum value out of what you already have.
Products can’t solve all your problems, and maybe by practicing on the little snafus you’ll keep your creative, problem-solving skills honed for when those big problems come along.