Problem solving and autonomy

Situation

You are faced with a real problem that is augmented by your imagination. Therefore you end up with a larger problem, which is part real and part imaginary.

The imaginary problem exacerbates the real problem, since you may discount possible solutions and make wrong decisions.

Approach

You can solve a real problem, but not an imaginary one. Therefore you have to determine which part of the problem is real and which part of the problem is imaginary.

How

Use the following problem solving technique:

1. Think about how to solve the problem, to the best of your ability.
2. Identify the most powerful person of whom you know, for example, the Queen or the Prime Minister.
3. Imagine explaining the problem to them, and them telling you how they would solve the problem.
4. Take the opposite approach suggested in Step #3, and add this to the solution from Step #1.
5. You now have the solution to the real part of your problem.

Why

The imaginary part of the problem is based on the feeling that you are in the power of other people. Therefore, when you imagine yourself asking a “powerful person” for the solution, the “powerful person” will “solve the problem” by asserting their power over the people whose power you are in.

Since you are not, in reality, in anyone’s power, the actual answer must lie in the opposite direction indicated by the “powerful person”. In other words, the real answer is to realise that you are not in anyone’s power, and then to address the actual problem.

Example

You are currently employed and you are offered a better job by your company’s competition. However, it is not clear if the business venture that the competition wants you for, will eventuate. Additionally, if the company that you currently work for finds out that you are considering a job offer by the competition, they will make life difficult for you.

Going through the above steps provides the following result:

• Your own best solution: Take the job offered by the competition and run the risk that it will not work out.
• Powerful person: The Queen
• The Queen’s solution: Tell the first company they have to employ you even if the venture with the second company does not work out.
• Take the opposite approach: The Queen suggested that you coerce your current employer into continuing your employment. The opposite of this suggestion is that you should remove yourself from the sphere of influence of your current employer. I.e. the competition should become the source of your income, regardless of whether the new job works out.

Adding this approach to the solution from Step 1 gives, “Take the job offered by the competition and do not run the risk that it will not work out.”

Practically speaking, this means that your new employer should guarantee your income regardless of whether the new job works out. For example, the company could escrow your income for one year with a third party. If the job works out, this money would become your salary. If not, you would receive the money anyway.

In summary

To progress in life, maintain your personal autonomy. This means, you are in no-one else’s power, and no-one else is in your power.

Let go of what you think is making you safe, and fly.