Ever had a problem you could not solve? Duh, of course you have!
Some problems can put you in a maze: you keep going but you never get anywhere.
When you face such a problem, pause, take a deep breath, and ask: “What if I do nothing?”
How might this work?
“Do nothing” may seem strange—after all, you have a problem to solve!
It does not mean that you sit back and wait for the worst to happen. On the contrary, you direct your thoughts to contemplate what will happen if you do nothing.
To “do nothing,” you must be still for a moment. Stop the frantic search for solutions for a few minutes. Reflect.
What will happen if events take their course? What is the worst thing that could happen? Are there any advantages in letting the problem stand?
What would be the ideal solution? What are the obstacles and constraints you are facing? Who can help? What are your resources (time, people, equipment, funding, knowledge)?
Having done that, you might find …
- …the problem has disappeared. (Wouldn’t that be nice!) Maybe you discover that the problem is not as urgent as you had thought, or maybe the reason for solving it had disappeared while you were running the maze. Or …
- …the solution is just lying around, waiting to be noticed. (Yes!) Who knows what you are missing while you are trapped in the maze? An article, an interview, a recently published book, or someone else’s idea could lead you to a solution. Or …
- …the solution falls into your lap the moment you stop trying to find it. (It can happen!) You are in the shower, or cutting the grass, or just waking up, when you have an “A-ha!” moment. (Think of the story of Archimedes taking a bath: “Eureka!”). Or …
- …nothing happens, but when you go back to work on your problem, your subconscious quietly presents you with the solution.
What if it does not work?
Neither “Do nothing” nor any other creativity technique can guarantee a solution. But you will not have wasted your time. Consider this:
- You would dramatically increase your chances of finding solutions. Deliberately “doing nothing” is better than doing nothing, after all!
- You would stop wasting time and energy on a fruitless quest. Problems are seldom solved when you are running around without a plan.
- Reflecting on the problem might bring up information that you had not yet considered, or possibilities that become obvious once you quiet your mind**.
- You would be clear on the possible consequences of the problem.
- Your definition of the problem would be focused on exactly those aspects of the situation that need to be fixed. (A good definition puts you halfway to the solution.)
- You might discover that you were trying to solve the wrong problem. Time to change direction!
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Notes:
“Do nothing” is not my original idea. It was first described by Brian Clegg and Paul Birch in their book Crash Course in Creativity (London: Kogan Page, 2002). I stumbled across the technique by accident (… okay, I was procrastinating on a problem …), and being a lazy thinker, I rank this technique among the first to try!
** One way of consolidating what you already know about a problem is to use a Tarot spread that “reads” a situation (i.e. is focused on understanding a problem, not on divining the future). The Celtic Cross works well for this purpose. My "Taking Stock" spread might also be useful. “What if I do nothing?” is a decision spread with “do nothing” as a card position. Or make up your own spread, with the card positions that represent the aspects you want to reflect on.
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