Problem Solving Without Knowing The Cause
Can a problem be solved without knowing the actual cause? By solved, I really mean solved. Not just “I’ll do this today and that tomorrow and it’ll keep things going but the problem will keep on coming so I’ll keep on reacting.” Also, I mean any type of problem at all. Scientific, personal, work related, social, moral, medical or anything. I’m also thinking along the lines of problems that occur with a fair amount of frequency. If a problem happens only once or rarely, if may well be easier to just treat the symptoms. Not that that would be solving the problem, it just probably wouldn’t matter in such a case. I would almost say that dumb luck doesn’t count, but then, if you put band-aids on for long enough and happen to stumble across the cause, that seems valid (though inefficient).
I don’t really think it can be done myself, but maybe there are certain types of problems where this may work. I just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts.
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Okay, so why is no one commenting on this? I’ll start if it helps everyone else speak up.
I firmly believe in the old adage “fake it until you make it” for most problems in life. To me that means that I need to keep moving forward no matter how many times I fail because I don’t have any other choice. Standing still and letting my life and the lives of the people I care about degenerate will only guarantee failure and misery. Wallowing has its time and place, but it needs to be brief in comparison to the time spent taking steps to improve things. Eventually, all of those little things you do and steps you take to fake it will come together, and you’ll realize that the problem really has improved because it was just a conglomeration of little things to begin with.
Then again, I may be speaking of a more narrow and specific issue than you were looking for insight on because, you know, I have a pretty strong opinion on the topic. In general, though, I think that one needs to remember that a problem should be broken down as much as possible in order to work effectively on it. The Dead Baby thing, for example, took us (or me, really…not that I’m cocky) 6 years to work out, and it only happened because we (me, again) examined every little detail and tweaked out the right set of ideal conditions. If we had just remained “unexplained” and felt overwhelmed by that, then I. & P. would not be kicking the shit out of me at this very moment, would they?
Okay, what does everyone else think?
If you don’t know what the exact problem is, than you can’t be exactly sure how to solve it. So, trying different approaches may cause you to stumble across the answer. Doing nothing will solve nothing.
Of course, this is something that I expect you and Milenka will become familar with when trying to soothe a wailing babe as you pace the floors thinking “dry diaper, full stomach …… WHAT???”
This is an abstract question, and one that I find quite elusive seeing as I am breastfeeding atm, and my brain cells seem to be flowing out with my milk!!!
But The way I approach alot of problems is by starting with me. For example, if my husband and I are going through a rough patch, after a month of constant niggling arguements (that are all a result of something HE does wrong!) I decide that someone has to break the cycle, it wont be him, so I do it. Even if I dont know the reasons why the cycle starts, I can be the catalyst for the cycle ending.. problem solved.
With children this works well, because they are people who you havent actually chosen to live with! That sounds strange, but you love them so, so desperately, or course, but they are also people living with you who have their own characters, and their own way of reacting. If you have one who seems a bit more difficult to understand, the best way I find to approach the situation is to adjust my behaviour rather than expect them to change. Otherwise I would be bashing my head against a wall forever trying to get them to see things my way!
I suppose this problem-solving from the self can work with alot of things; in work, medical.. sort of. One can always try to get fit and healthy in order to solve a health issue, or to enhance ones best outcome.
Im not sure about scientific problems, as Im not a scientist.
But Im sure that when problem solving the great scientists go into themselves, get into the zone and work things out from that point.
Without knowing what the problem is, the only way to address any issue, in my opinion, is to address it from within.. from yourself. Otherwise I cannot see how anything could be done.
Felicity.
i agree with felicity,it has to start within…
Yes, for example, you can stop someone’s bleeding even if you don’t know what caused the bleeding in the first place. You can fix a leak even if you don’t know what caused the leak. The likelyhood of being able to fix a problem without knowing the cause depends on the frequency and severity of the problem. But if you think about it, the more frequent or recurring a problem, the more likely it is that you will need to find the cause of the problem to find the fix to it.
I wanted to clarify that I meant the more likely a problem is to reoccur the more likely you will need to find the cause to find the solution.
First, let me say that I am terrible at talking about things in the abstract. But as I read your query, I came up with something similar to Christine’s response above. I think that trying solutions until you find one can be helpful, because A) you might stumble upon the right one, B) you might learn about what does work and what DOESN’T work, and C), taking some kind of action can be hugely empowering, and helps prevent you from feeling helpless in situations where you tend to feel that way.
I’m also a tremendous believer in learning from mistakes, since understanding why something didn’t solve a problem can actually help to understand the problem better. (I suspect that made no sense whatsoever.) Hmmm. Maybe it’s not very efficient (good point), but perhaps it could help you to figure out what will solve the problem?
You’ll always be where you’ve always been if you always do what you’ve always done.
~Mel~
I don’t know why my dog is mean and wants to attack everyone that walks by our yard. I don’t know what causes him to hit the gate and knock it open and run after people. Putting up a privacy fence and a lock on the gate has solved the problem. However, we still have the issue of him being mean and not knowing why, but as far as I’m concerned, the problem is solved. For now.