Is There a Process to Solve Problems?

Whenever I’m faced with a problem, one of the first places I start is to gather information that will help me to solve it. I gather information from many places, such as courses, YouTube videos, books, commercial online databases and more. Right now, a big problem I face is how to increase the number of subscribers to my membership site, the Art of Learning. One day, I’d like this to be one of my primary sources of income.

To solve this problem, I decided to read a number of books on subscription and membership sites. I'm reading books across different niches. So far, I've read books on gym memberships and subscription boxes, even though what I offer are course. Doing this, allows me to transport ideas from one niche to another. Before I present a creativity and problem-solving model, I'd like you to answer the following questions.

1. Do you gather information?
2. Or is there something else that you do first to get the process started?

In the book,?A Technique for Producing Ideas, James Webb Young presents a five-step process for producing ideas. You can use this model to solve problems as well.

Five Steps to Producing Ideas – The Method

Step 1: Gather New Materials – Preparation

You have a problem or issue that you are grappling with. Or you have questions you need answered. Start to gather materials. There are two types of information that you have to gather – specific and general.

Specific Information:

This is information that is relevant to the specific problem or issue that you are trying to resolve.

General Information:

This is information from all fields. This is a lifelong activity that you do.

Keep in mind that a new idea is the result of combining general and specific information. Therefore, the more specific and general knowledge you have, the more opportunities to combine ideas. Think about a problem that you have at work that you want to invest time in solving. Using Step 1 of the creative process outlined above, get the process started.

• Write down the problem or issue that you are having. Or the questions you want answered.
• What specific or other information do you already have that will help you to resolve it? Collect the information and put it in one place.
• Which experts can you interview to get information? Make a list, then conduct the interviews.
• Is there someone who has resolved the issue before, even someone in another industry? Conduct some research, and if you find anyone, interview them to learn what they did.
• Use other source material such as books, articles, podcasts, and videos to gather information to solve the problem and answer the questions.
• You now have a useful source of ideas to work with.

Step 2: Look at the Information in Different Ways

• Read through all the information that you collected in Step 1 to solve your problem. Or answer your questions.
• Note important pieces of information and facts.
• Look at the information from many angles.
• Start playing with the information. Bring two or more pieces of fact together to see if they fit.
• Try to get at?least?some partial ideas.
• When partial ideas come to you, no matter how crazy or incomplete, write them down.
• When you get to the point where you are?feeling?that enough is enough, like it is pointless to do any additional work, it is time to stop and move on to the next step.

Step 3: Put the Problem Completely Out of Your Mind – Incubate

This is a?necessary?step in the creative process. Now, it is time to take a break, turn over the problem to your subconscious mind. Work on an unrelated task. Or do?something?that stimulates the imagination and emotions. The activities include the following.

• Listen to music.
• Go to the theater.
• Go to a movie.
• Read poetry.
• Read a detective story.
• Do word puzzles.

Step 4: The Idea Appears Out of Nowhere – Illumination

When you least expect it, the idea comes to you. This may sound magical, but the idea comes to you because you have followed the previous steps. You have done the work.

Step 5: Take Your Idea to the World/Shaping and Developing the Idea – Verification

• Ideas are seldom fully formed. Therefore, the idea is unlikely to be in a form that you can implement.
• Work with the idea to improve it.
• Subject it to criticism, test it, then refine it.

As you can see, from the above model, I'm at the information gathering phase. I still have more books to read before I move on to the next phase. Looking at the model, is this something you can use to solve your own problems?

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