Quotes About Problem-solving

And by forcing ourselves to learn something, we place ourselves in a selective environment that puts a premium on a future instinctive solution to the problem.

Finally, Stevie sat down with Nate at the farm table for five hours and side by side, passing the computer back and forth, they assembled ten pages of script. The scene opened in a tunnel, with Hayes reading the Truly Devious letter. Then it went to the scene of the ransom drop, with Hayes playing Albert Ellingham. How Hayes was going to play Albert Ellingham, a man thirty years his senior, was not their problem.

I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers.

What I was quickly discovering about the presidency was that no problem that landed on my desk, foreign or domestic, had a clean, 100 percent solution. If it had, someone else down the chain of command would have solved it already.

We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.

the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done. It was a pretty convincing

It's hard, in retrospect, to understand why you did something stupid. I don't mean the small stuff—ruining your favorite tie because you tried to eat soup in the car or throwing out your back because you got talked into playing tackle football on Thanksgiving. I mean dumb choices in the wake of considerable deliberation: those times when you identify a real problem in your life, analyze it, and then with utter confidence come up with precisely the wrong answer

What does he think I'm supposed to do?" I growled at Rahm after hearing of Carville's broadside. "Put on my fucking Aquaman gear and swim down there myself with a wrench?

Involve people in the problem and work out the solution together.

He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.

In the words of Abraham Maslow, "He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.

you're not going to talk your way out of a problem you behaved yourself into.

Whether a problem is direct, indirect, or no control, we have in our hands the first step to the solution. Changing our habits, changing our methods of influence and changing the way we see our no control problems are all within our Circle of Influence.

Abraham Maslow, "He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.

Whenever someone in our family, even one of the younger children, takes an irresponsible position and waits for someone else to make things happen or provide a solution, we tell them, "Use your R and I!" (resourcefulness and initiative).

How do you do it? Teach me the techniques." What they're really saying is, "Give me some quick fix advice or solution that will relieve the pain in my own situation.

great deal of research has been conducted for decades on what has come to be called brain dominance theory. The findings basically indicate that each hemisphere of the brain—left and right—tends to specialize in and preside over different functions, process different kinds of information, and deal with different kinds of problems.

It is in the ordinary events of every day that we develop the proactive capacity to handle the extraordinary pressures of life. It's how we make and keep commitments, how we handle a traffic jam, how we respond to an irate customer or a disobedient child. It's how we view our problems and where we focus our energies. It's the language we use.

Think about a person who typically sees things differently than you do. Consider ways in which those differences might be used as stepping-stones to third alternative solutions. Perhaps you could seek out his or her views on a current project or problem, valuing the different views you are likely to hear.

the four main ingredients of a successful family time: planning, teaching, problem-solving, and having fun. Notice how this one structure can meet all four needs—physical, social, mental, and spiritual—and how it can become a major organizing element in the family. But family time doesn't have to be that involved—especially at first. If you want, you can just begin to do some of these things at a special family dinner. Use your imagination. Make it fun.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

Voltaire said that no problem could withstand the assault of sustained thinking. And he was right.

One way to look at design—any kind of design—is that it's essentially about constraints (things you have to do and things you can't do) and tradeoffs (the less-than-ideal choices you make to live within the constraints).

Designing, building, and maintaining a great Web site or app isn't easy. It's like golf: a handful of ways to get the ball in the hole, a million ways not to.