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There is no way we can see the fullest ramifications of a decision into the far future. For example, someone has six children. they could have no grandchildren or maybe 30. How can we solve the problem or at least close the gap? The idea of closing the gap has some validity in any number of areas we are delving into. . I was running on the Long Beach boardwalk and I thought maybe I could catch the runner ahead of me before the end of the boardwalk a couple of miles but I realized the best I could do is close the gap as the initial distance and the pace of the runner ahead gave me only a realistic chance of closing the gap in my little game but I couldn’t make up the full distance between us. But what are the scenarios where I can feel, this is a solution or even just a metaphorical liquid solution soon to solidify its presence. Imaging can be a useful exercise. Sit in a quiet place, imagining possible solutions. Remove the constraints. I have a few dollars of savings but I would like to have an expensive home. In your imaging, feel free to be released from the constraints of financial deficits and image the outcome or outline, putting yourself in the picture in some way. Allow yourself to roam into land which seems formidable to even unobtainable at present. Is there a clearing, an opening in the clouds? It is helpful to somehow fit yourself into different scenarios. Explore options now, not later, as you may have more cards in your deck than you think you have. You may have unexplored talent in your back pocket. So even while we pursue plan A, keep an eye towards the opining options of plan B & C. An opportunity can be viewed as a window. As we seek solutions, the major question to ask here is what the opportunity is. What within a given situation or circumstance, can be viewed, even in part or in components as being opportunistic in nature or in reality?. Waiting can be important as proper timing may be present to the opportunity. For, example, I may want to swim in the warm currents of the New York ocean. It's August 2, and the water temperature is 75 degrees. I say, I'll wait a few weeks or in a couple of months I'll get to it. Can I expect under normal conditions for the area, that the water will remain warm for me? A reality check can be done in relation to our proposed solution. Do I have the ingredients to tackle the task too accomplish that which I would perceive as the solution whether it be a solution localized to the present or a more ongoing solution? A solution is something that I should be able to execute in reality in some concrete form. Reality may change with the passage of time. For example my solution would include traveling to a far away land such as India or Australia . In 1810 this would be more difficult to implement than it would be today as more advanced forms of traveling can be found. My solutions ties into what current means are available. Reality does change with the times. As we search for solutions that can't be immediately found, we tend to look at things as scarce or in terms of scarcity. For example, I'm hungry, it's 1 A. M and there is no place open on this island. I see the solution as a scarce resource when reality today in the Western Hemisphere and in the U.S. is that the availability of food is in abundance. I don't have a date, when in reality there might be 10 people in the area willing to date me this evening. The solution may indeed be in abundance and the idea of scarcity becomes thematic and detrimental to a solution. For example, too much emphasis on meeting the one person becomes overwhelming and constrictive to that search for that very one person. I see lack and this dominates my search and in the face of lack I might operate more from the panic mode then a more desirable mode for what I am trying to do. . Where am I going to tie the rope? In my business model, I am often looking to form more lasting ties with the customer. IBM and the computer industry in general in the early 90's sold their products as proprietary, where for example, you had to buy their printer as well as monitor. IBM went to open source technology, and instead emphasized developing longer term service contracts while unloosening the knot on proprietary hardware. Don't be so sticky on minor points. Don't not hire the next great employee because of an unusual hair style. Work problems need solutions as where we work and how we work carries forth great influence on our ability to make and find solutions.. The problem I have is I don't appreciate the work I'm doing and neither do the people I work with. The solution that I can arrive at is first that I appreciate the work myself and then potentially other people will also appreciate the work. I can for example, appreciate the person I'm dating and they can appreciate me as well. The so called win- win situation can become operative with both the internal and external aspects of the solutions having a good match up or degree of correlation. There are shared benefits which may not be 50-50 but these shared benefits even if not 50-50 might have a greater sum in one situation than another. So the 50- 50 split may not always be as important as the total sum that can be shared in a situation. A 50-50 spit on a decent conversation doesn’t have a much maybe as a 75-35 split for a great conversation. You say it must only be 75-25 but it can be 75-35. I’m getting 35 percent of this and someone is getting 75 percent of this and indeed we as far as the conversation can get 100 percent for both. A proper understanding of externalities is important. Advances in global networking require a critical grasp in understanding and running many businesses today. With these advances come the advent of new markets. The question for businesses or individuals is how do I need to adjust to these new and changing externalities. A simple example is a worker who says, “I didn't grow up using computers in grammar and high school, why should I change now"? How far is that strategy going to get you into today's world? As I begin to identify resistance, I can further realize that it is often a reaction to changing externalities. I might be plugging in a type of resistance that is making a difficult road even harder. So what if I am using the Internet to meet someone for a date on Friday night. The internet is part of the changing externalities of the world that I might need to lessen my resistance to. I don't stand at the bus station waiting for a horse and buggy however nice that might have been Can the good singer enjoy his or her own voice? Solutions can involve a recognition of who or what I am with or without the hoped for outcome. Interiorly, I know I could be this or that, however I can't seem to break through and sell myself. Say I want to be a high profile investment banker. Yet, I can't do this because of high competition for limited slots. How can I view this from a different angle? One solution is that there area an unlimited supply of business articles available in the library. I can have access to these materials and invest myself in them. Maybe I wanted to write business reports. A big lure of the Internet is that it potentially brings accessibility to solutions. So from the business perspective, a key ingredient is accessibility, access. Blockbuster, is open until midnight and has its titles in alphabetical order, making it easier to access the films both by title and by time of day. An open line of communication, accessibility, is a key component of solutions in many cases. Wireless phones, satellite communications, presuppose an increasing level of accessibility for the customer as a solution. Scarcity versus abundance and inaccessible towards accessibility is the way to go. In some way, as a company seeking the customer, you want to in a symbolic sense, give the person the key to his own solution. In searching for the solution, it might be that we are overlooking a key component. 1+3=4. But if, I have the equation as 1 3 how do I even know I am looking for the addition to 4. So the plus sign is needed. I want to run the marathon, but I come to the race in hiking boots. We may indeed be doings something as absurd as this, in overlooking key components to our solutions. But, in fact, I have seen people, army personnel, running a marathon is hiking boots and they did fairly well but this is not the route most runners will take especially is they do not have the group support to line up for a race differently. Maybe I'm overlooking the creative process toward the solution. I want a solution, but I stay with the status quo, and I impute no creativity towards a possible solution. The tried and true becomes institutionalized, what is shall be answered for within this establishment. But maybe the solution I'm seeking involves what isn't, and something that might yet be. Contact lenses are a current solution for people with visual problems, yet contact lenses didn't exist a few decades ago. As we seek solutions, the hoped for solution doesn't always involve something that already exists. Even a conversation, is something that didn't exist and is now being created as we speak. For example, people sitting in Harvard may say to themselves, I have the ultimate ticket. The danger in this is that is that we may be putting walls around an already established institution, as the ultimate gate to enter, when the solution may not even exist at the present, we will need to call upon the creative process, to come to previous unknown solutions. The idea that Harvard is the answer presupposes to a proprietary world, where only a few have solutions. Harvard may be one of many possible solutions. Bill Gates, a Harvard dropout, found his solutions outside of the classroom environment. He may have completed his courses, looked at his diploma for the rest of his life and patted himself on the back. But he went beyond the institutions that already existed and created Microsoft which has provided solutions to many. His company indeed has now become an institution, as big if not bigger than Harvard in it's influence at this time. But when Bill Gates left Harvard, there was no Microsoft to go to , it did not exist in reality. It came into existence out of the creative process of Bill Gates and others. A solution may involve capacities that just need to be brought forth. For example, I want to get in shape, I have good ability for running, I just need to begin to do it and not continue to excuse myself from this capacity. A solution may involve pruning. A bad apple may spoil the batch. I may need to divorce myself from situations, people, et al. who inhibit solutions or even a helpful and usable thought process that I have upheld needs to be pruned and engaged enough if I am to arrive at a solution. I also might need to disengage on the whole or in part for other solutions. I am disengaging on my previous way of doing things as a bring forth the new method. Compartmentalization can be negative but at the same time can be helpful. If I ignore one aspect by separating it from the overall solution, only to have it continue to be bothersome. I may be studying heavily, but I compartmentalize exercise out of the equation, ignore it and it affects the very task that is now central of studying, I feel less energized because of the lack of exercise and I feel dull as I study. A solution can be an engaged solution, I participate in the process or in my own solution. I have an active part in the solution. My solution is to read this book, even as I go through one page, I am engaging in the solution so I need to see the solution also as an engagement that I am seeking rather than only a totality of outcomes. A solution may be empowering, that I can do this. I can learn to ride a bicycle, or give a speech, and now I have empowered myself to do this. An example is a major league pitcher, who learns that extra pitch, empowering him to use this pitch again and this engagement continues with each use of the new pitch. I might need to suspend judgment a bit. Too much judgment interjected at the front end of an operation might result in reduced flexibility and creativity all of which is needed in unknown amounts. Getting back to the example of the major league baseball pitcher, if he is encumbered by wearing a winter coat while trying to pitch the baseball, he is going to lose motion and creativity on his fastball to the plate and also lose direct insight as to how his solution works unencumbered by non essential variables which normally aren’t there. The solution might be an in motion type of solution. This is another error where I might see my solution as sort of a static slot where either for me or for the business this solution will occur in motion. I am getting everything to the customer and answering their questions in real-time. The solutions involve proper motion to the situation. A large retail company might just need more doorways so people can move freely in and out of the store. Enough checkout counters maintained by enough people may be important to the idea of customers coming back. I might need to walk more briskly next to my friend or they might not want to hike with me again. What are the boundaries, scope, or landscape of the solution which I hope for? Can I visualize a solution, can I see it? What would the landscape include? What picture is being painted, what aspects can be included. Deficit solutions are solutions that aren't inclusive of key elements. Solutions that are inherently restrictive, leaving no real slack for up and down performances, could be deficit solutions. Where is the longitude and latitude to my solution or is my solution at just due North. I don't want to start leaving out things just when I'm on the brink of a great solution. Bridge to solutions. You may see the solution, it's so close yet so far away, because there is a bridge you must cross to get to that solution. Perhaps we fear this bridge, it is a high bridge, with a walkway above swift waters. But we must cross this bridge to a solution as it is on the other side of the bridge. If it was on the same side, it would be better and more desirable, but it just isn’t on this side of the presenting waterways.. Seeing our solution appear in reality, we must cross that brigade. The bridge may be our own fears, our own self imposed limitations, our disbelief that things can be different, that there are different realities, that what is must always be. But this gulf or bridge is real, like a churning waterway, and must be crossed to obtain the solution. My beliefs are as real and determinative as any structure or land or waterway out there. Or our bridge may not be difficult as our beliefs think, it may be such an easy bridge to cross, yet we don't perceive it that way, and see a mountain when in fact we may be walking on an easy path. The gap may be narrow in reality, but huge in our minds. Because there is a huge gap to where we want to go in our minds, we don’t get close enough to where we want to go in reality, and never get to see where the reality did in fact differ from our thoughts on this. Never judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes, the expression goes. Why judge your solution until you walk a mile in your solution? So give your solution a chance. A few bad dates doesn't mean you have to be a monk. A few walks in the rain doesn't mean the sun will never shine. Be friendly towards your solutions. Every step we take can have ramifications. We need to be patient be we should try not to store solutions. Solutions can be procrastinated on. I am overweight and walking 5 miles a day will help greatly. What are you waiting for? Another approach to solutions is to throw out the garbage, plug the leaks. On balance what is the way home. Identify garbage, including our own stupid misguided thoughts and throw them out. Looks for the leaks, including the bad influences against your solution and plug them. If a friend is always talking about what can't happen, maybe this friend is the leak. A helpful way to find solutions is to identify currents and move within them. A swift current can move us along the coastline as we swim. In the same way, there can be currents in our life, if we can somehow get with these currents, we can enjoy the ride. We can see these currents as provisions. As we look for solutions, try to see if the solution needs to be looked at as part of an overall package. Instead narrowly focusing on an aspect of the problem, we need to expand the dimensions of our proposed solution, possibly in stages. A total expansion may not be possible initially but we can be moved to expand. What are the contents of the solution and how are they layered. This is probably best done by forming a circle or grid, and exploring some of the wider and wider and even wider issues that impose on the solution. If we take, the picture of someone's finger, do we really have the picture of them? There may be wider issues imposing on our solution. And while we need to look at details, don’t forget to look back at the wider picture before you lose that as well. We may want to get at least on the platform of my solution. At least get to the launch pad where there is an initial engagement. We can springboard from the platform. From where can our solution spring forth? Time and space issues are a concern. I need time to read this book, I need the space, the subway is so crowded I can't even extend my arms to read the book. I have no space. When and how can we come to a more complete solution to what we want to do. We want to view the situation as no longer being a problem. What can happen to bring this about? In searching for solutions, we need to first become more aware of the desired outcome. For the individual, this could possibly involve lifestyle changes. Finances could play a big part of this. But yet, what parts of the solution do I already have, do I already have 4 or the 5 parts, yet the 5th part seems overwhelming. Material goods such as a house or even a big house require the finances as a necessity. This may be the 5th part that seems overwhelming. How can I attract this, what is the appropriate path to follow? Do I need to narrow or expand my focus? And while I am doing this, I don't want to devalue the critical 4 parts that I already do have. If I do want these things maybe we need to examine alternate paths and contemplate different approaches which may lead to different outcomes or more desirable outcomes. The road I am now following may have some congestion. Why haven't I found the open seas? Why am I stuck in the harbor? Narrow focus is needed to be say a doctor but this intense focus may not encompass some solutions for me in my personal life. I'm experiencing gridlock here, while everybody seems to be moving so freely and easily there. A simple way is to guide yourself into or away from what for you has darkness and what for you has light. If we are working for a company that is continually on the brink, this could be a dark focus. If we work for companies that are doing well, but in some ways involved in underhanded competition, this could be dark for us. If darkness hovers and somehow remains, then we may not be able to see solutions. If the dark forces are even nearby, we may find ourselves imposed upon or even becoming immersed in the darkness. And for some reason we forge ahead, in the spirit of John Wayne, true grit, and remain loyal to our chosen path, when we need to step aside into where we can see light. As those dark clouds move in, we begin to move ourselves away from solutions, and we can get caught in actual traps, where we can't see the opportunities for us, which are found in the light. And it is easier to get lost in the dark, we know this from traveling at night. The darkness can be so encompassing, because it follows us wherever we go. It could be our own dark thoughts that haunt us, and this can be exasperated by tapping into say bad news. We highlight the bad news and there is a subtle erosion in our ability to find the pockets of light for us. We begin to think too much, that this can happen to me. But there are points of light and these are hints. And while these bad things can indeed happen to us, is it necessary to tap the wells of bad news, when we are seeking solutions? Of course, we don't want to be totally blind to the darkness, but just be aware that it is more difficult to find our way in the tumult, in the darkness. But since the solutions are found in the light, we need to seek light. To get to a solution, we must somehow see it, grasp it, find it, take a chance on it, and immerse ourselves in it, and see if we can be free from the tyranny and voice that says, I can't get it done. Ask yourself, am I in a prison. Some people may actually feel this way even though they are walking about. A prison may not only involve walls. It may involve coming under the influence of an unwanted agenda. It may involve a core compromise of what you consider of value. Are you tapping a prison wall or are you free? A conversation alone could become a prison. Someone might be hurling the poison darts of negativity your way. End the conversation. When and where has there even been a ray of sunshine, a point of light, look for this rather than continuing to wrestle in the darkness and never find a solution
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