[Neurons] 2026 Neurons #10 THRIVING ON PROBLEMS

Mon Mar 2 16:17:03 EET 2026

From: L. Michael Hall

2026 Neurons #10

March 2, 2026

Problem Solving Expertise #11

THRIVING ON PROBLEMS

Now talk about a wild and crazy idea!  Thriving on problems?!  Really?
Well, yes, that's the vision of developing expertise in problem-solving.
When you get really good at solving problems, you will naturally delight in
problems.  You will take them on as the grist for your mill.  You know that
within them is gold to mine. This means that problems do not have to stop
you or depress you, once you turn your thinking around and enhance your
skill level, you can actually thrive in their presence.  How about that?

To turn around your thinking, whenever you hear the world 'problem,' think
puzzle.  And don't you love puzzles?  Crossword puzzles, language riddles,
mystery puzzles, puzzles which are set up in games, on the internet, on TV
game shows.  Who has a problem with a puzzle?  Hardly anyone.  Puzzles tease
the mind; they are playful.  They are fun.  They start by mystifying us.  At
first we are confused, unsure, perplexed, bewildered, but as we then ponder
the puzzle and 'puzzle it out,' we figure it out which becomes an ecstatic
moment of delight.

Here's my reframe: Problems are puzzles for my mind.  As such problems can
activate your mind and your creativity.  With problems, you can unleash
potentials you didn't even know you had, and develop creative thinking
skills that can lead to innovative breakthroughs.  But, and this is a big
but, all this requires that you adopt a robust attitude and develop your
problem-solving skills.  Only then can you move into becoming an effective
and creative problem-solver.

Now the people who thrive on problems tend to be the entrepreneurs of the
future.  They see a problem-something that gets in the way or something
that's missing which is needed-and they set about to solve the problem.
These are the people who actually search for problems to solve and embrace
the problems they find.  They know that 'the bigger the problem, the more
the money' (another great reframe).  That's because people will pay for
solutions to their problems.  And that in a few words is the secret for
wealth creation.

To thrive on problems, slow yourself down when you come upon a problem.
Take time to precisely define the problem.  Like any puzzle, most problems
arrive at our door step vague, ambiguous, and messy.  That's why we have to
take time to clean up the 'problem' linguistically and conceptually.  To
rashly jump in and try to solve the problem typically leads you to solving
the wrong problem or inadequately solving it.  Those who thrive on problems
know that "the presenting problem" is usually not the real problem. 

The danger of rushing into problem-solving is that when you solve a symptom
rather than the problem, the problem will return.  That's because you never
got to the actual problem, just symptoms and expressions of it.  You didn't
go deep enough into the thinking of the core construct. 

Those who thrive on problems have another secret, they fully embrace the
problem by entering into it to understand it from the inside-out.  Abraham
Maslow, who was recognized as an  authority on creativity in the 1950s and
60s, described this.

"The best way to view a present problem is to give it all you've got, to
study it, and its nature, to perceive within it the intrinsic
interrelationships, to discover (rather than to invent) the answer to the
problem within the problem itself." (p. 61)

That last line is a jewel: "discover the answer to the problem within the
problem itself."  How about that?  What if by entering into the problem,
clearly defining it, and understanding its internal structures implies and
reveals the solution?  If so, then like a good puzzle, there's this paradox
to problem-solving, you first have to embrace the problem in order to make
the meta probe journey into the center of the meanings that encode the
problem.  That is, the solution is inside of the problem.

That explains one of the key questions we use in the problem-solving
process, "If this statement described the problem and you turn it into a
question-a question that elicits an answer that solves the problem, what is
the question?  

[Neuro-Semantics News: The ISNS Wisdoms, March 21 will be on Problem-Solving
Thinking. ]

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

738 Beaver Lodge

Grand Jct., CO. 81505 USA

 <http://www.neurosemantics.com> www.neurosemantics.com 

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Making smart decisions is not easy--- many, many cognitive biases 

work against us and it is far too easy to default to pseudo-decisions:

emotions, gut feelings, intuitions, circumstances, others.  

Executive Decisions (2021) offers a way to decide intelligently and wisely.

130969 Neuro Semantics Executive Decisions Book Cover

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