The Art of Perception 5

A problem is a terrible thing to waste. (Peter Diamandis)

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Fragments from imaginary dialogues

“How can I solve this problem?”

“Before you set to working on a problem [Particular], work on your relationship with ‘problem’ as a concept [General]. 

What does ‘problem’ mean to you?
Does it have a positive or negative connotation?

You can work on beautifying its representation [<link; medium length].

The result can be something like this:

Meaning-Map

I call this a meaning-map.

The nodes in blue are values.
The nodes in pink are representations.”

“Can you explain it as a step-by-step process?”

“Sure.

Start from the central node and brainstorm on it, connecting it with your central values and coming up with meaningful representations for it – meaningful for you.

Then pass it through the 80/20 filter, selecting the 20% most powerful representations.

Work on internalizing those representations [Deliberate Practice] such that whenever you think ‘problem’, the representations automatically come to mind.”