Published on January 27, 2021

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How to Define a Problem and Find It’s Solution

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date January 27, 2021
• No Comments on How to Define a Problem and Find It’s Solution

When we think of problems and problem solving, our mind typically goes to Mathematics. Because every other subject is framed as questions and answers. Only Maths is framed as problems and solutions. So the word ‘problem’ comes up, our eyes glaze over, and the day-dreaming starts instead. ‘Yea, let somebody else figure it out..’

But we face ‘problems’ in every aspect of our lives. What book to read, what show to watch, what food to order. Even these can be considered as problems. Sure they aren’t the same as figuring which university to attend or which Ivy league mentor to find. But these are all problems too. A problem is defined as any question involving doubt, uncertainty or difficulty. I’m sure you can agree we face this all the time.

So you need to find a solution to these problems. How?

Well the crux of solving any problem is to define what the problem is in the first place. To reframe that question and try to see things differently.

Take any sport. If you have an opponent beating you, that is a problem. But is that really the problem? Is your strategy the problem? Is it the opponent’s strategy? Are they playing their best player less to give him a rest, or are they playing him more so that the others are open? Have they identified your game plan? What exactly? Until you know this and identify the actual problem, you won’t be able to find a solution. You need to work backwards and figure out what the issue is. Puzzles always seem puzzling until you know the solution. Then your mind works backwards and it almost seems dumb. But you didn’t really catch on when it was needed right?

Now don’t get lost in just identifying the problem also. You need to focus on the solution as well. Often we worry about the consequences of the problem, so we don’t think straight and actually come up with a solution. Always know that you’re solving small problems constantly, you just don’t realise it. The trick is to find a more efficient solution. You can either climb ten floors or you can take the elevator. Both are solutions to getting up to your house, but one is more efficient. When you relax and focus on a solution, you will find it.

And don’t worry if you go wrong somewhere. Elon Musk said ‘Something will always go wrong’. Those are words to live by. Once you accept that things will go wrong, you don’t stress as much about it. His SpaceX rockets explode constantly; he was on the verge of bankruptcy. But he learned from his failures and found a better solution to his problems. Now look at his company. Does it mean that he doesn’t have any more problems left?

Another way of looking at all of this, is trying to figure problems that exist in the world and coming up with a solution for that problem, but as a business opportunity. Elon Musk thinks the world is going to end, so he’s finding solutions to get to Mars. Closer home, restaurants were all scattered around, so Zomato came in and created a billion dollar solution. Find the problem, and make the solution your business.

But how?

– Trust your instincts.

– Learn about the problem. Understand it completely.

– Ask for help. Always. You’re never alone in your problems.

– Steal other solutions. Others might have had the same problem and have found a solution. There is no copyright on that.

– Ask for a fresh pair of eyes to look at the same problem.

– Know when to change the question altogether. Some problems can’t be solved, so you change the question being asked.

– Have courage to know that you might make mistakes.

– Relax. A stressed mind will never find the best solution.

– If the problem looks to big and scary, break it down into smaller parts. Solve those.

– Find a mentorship program or a leadership workshop to help you.

– Don’t ignore the smaller issues, which can be quickly solved. Don’t let them build up.

– Have patience. The solution will come to you.

– Information is not the same as understanding. Google has a lot of info, but learn to make it more relevant to your problem.

Always remember that you aren’t born a problem solver. Nobody is. It is a skill developed over a period of time by facing your challenges, not running from them.

Published on January 20, 2021

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Should you Decide your Career in High School?

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date January 20, 2021
• No Comments on Should you Decide your Career in High School?

When most people hit 9th Grade, they are told that it’s time to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their life. For some reason, it’s always the 9th grade in India. Because until 9th you’re a child who can do whatever, and then suddenly you have the weight of your entire future crashing down on you. Apparently, as soon as you hit your teens, now you must plan every moment of your life.

It starts with selecting an elective when you’re in the 9th. Because that will determine what you do in the 11th and 12th. Then it becomes about what stream you want in college. What are the choices available, which countries have good programs, should you look at the Arts or maybe play it safe with an Engineering degree. Would you need to do more in your 11th and 12th, to help with your SOPs? If you study abroad, what kind of jobs are available after? Should you think about an MBA or a Masters? What kind of job would you need to do to get into a great college? What jobs are available after that degree?

Now how are you supposed to plan all of this when you’re still in your teens. There are people who struggle to do this even when they’re 25. So the reflex is to take a step back and get nudged by others in the ‘right’ direction. Maybe their words seem to have logic and make sense. And then one decision after another, you realise you’re just as lost as when you were 13.

So the question becomes, is it even possible to decide so far in advance? We are always given examples of some relative or some family friend, who knew what he or she was going to do when they were in high school, and look how well they are doing. And that is given as a reason why you should also decide early.

But what is your decision going to be based on?

Experiences. That’s your answer. When we’re in high school, we haven’t experienced much. So we are full of assumptions. We assume that a writer lives a glamorous life. We assume that journalists are risking their lives to enter war zones. We assume that a lawyer is changing the world winning cases. We assume a financial advisor is closing deals worth billions. We assume a lot. And do you know if it’s true? What if you decide your career based on these assumptions, and then find out the future you dreamed about isn’t true?

So burst these assumptions. Find ways to experience things which you haven’t before. If you can’t experience them, find older people who have. You ask them about their life. How they enjoy their work. What are the benefits? What are the pit-falls? You ask them questions which they might never have thought about. You should come hungry to learn. If you have an interest in something, learn about it.

But HOW?

• Take up an internship if anybody will let you. Or spend a day shadowing someone at work.

• Go through your parents phonebook and find someone who works in the field of your interest.

• Try doing the work. Write, if you want to be a journalist. Argue with friends, to re-create a courtroom.

• Watch videos and tutorials. There is a treasure trove of information online.

• Do workshops in your chosen field. There will be older folks who can give you perspective.

• Badger your parents to let you explore. Risky, but it’ll help you overcome your doubt.

• Learn about yourself. Not IQ tests, actually explore what your interests are.

Main thing – Don’t worry. Enjoy the uncertainty that comes with this exploration. You should feel happy that you’re exploring at such a young age. You truly can do whatever you want, if you just learn more about it. The trick is not to just make any decision. It is to make an informed decision. And to keep making these decisions every few years throughout your life. You’ll go to college, change as a person, and then again make further decisions. That’s life. Enjoy the process, not the destination.

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‘Mom, Dad, I want to be a writer.’

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date January 20, 2021
• No Comments on ‘Mom, Dad, I want to be a writer.’

Yes. You must become a writer, a world-class author, pen a masterpiece, sip coffees in Paris, win prizes and prize money, maybe the Nobel prize for literature, and be spoken about in the same sentence as Shakespeare. Yes.

OR

You could just write.

Just that. Simply sit down and write whatever comes to your head. Anything and everything. Put it down. And there you go, you’re a writer. Of course, then you go about becoming better at it. The trick is that every time you write, you become slightly better.

The problem comes from having the expectation that the very first thing you write, should be extraordinary. That you must write amazing stuff as soon as the pen touches the paper, or the finger hits the keyboard. But there is absolutely no reason why that should happen. Can you become a CEO of a multinational company on your first day?

So start small, start now. Writing is about expressing the person you are right now. If you come up with a story, it’s going to be from the person you are at the moment. Don’t look at it as a goal-based thing, we anyhow have enough of that in school. You will change, your writing will change, and your stories will change. So you might as well enjoy what you write in this moment.

Maybe you just want to start writing your thoughts every day, maybe you want to start an anonymous blog, maybe you want to write a four-line poem. There are no rules to what you can do. Find inspiration anywhere and everywhere, and write it down. It could be about how your cornflakes might feel, floating in your bowl of milk at breakfast, waiting to be eaten. Write about the walk you took from your class to your school gate at the end of the day. Take the most random part of your day, and put your own twist to it.

Now when people think about writing professionally, we often get this warm feeling that ‘Hey maybe I could be a writer’. But then reality slaps us in the face and self-doubt makes us go back into the safety of our shells. It also doesn’t help that successful writers are spoken about as if they are God-like, almost unreachable. And on the flip side, the unsuccessful ones are thrown in our faces as an example of why we won’t make it either.

Well first, let’s ignore people who say that writing isn’t a profession. Here are some:

• Copywriter in Advertising

• Journalist

• Professional Blogger

• Digital content writer

• Scriptwriter

• Technical writer

• Magazine writer

• Novelist

• Poet

You could pursue a proper education and get a high paying job doing all of the above. Sure it’s not going to pay as much as an Investment Bank, but it all depends on how interested you are in writing. There are courses in great universities which can help you develop those skills, opening your world to further possibilities.

High school is a great time to start writing. There is less pressure, you learn faster and you can take time to develop your skills. We sometimes get bored even thinking about writing, because it reminds us of English class. But we forget that language can be an art form.

So what more else could you do?

• You could attend fun workshops. This isn’t like class, nobody is going to talk about grammar. It’s to discuss ideas and convert them into words.

• Do an internship. Find someone who is a writer, or find someone who works in a writing profession. Beg them to let you intern with them.

• Enter writing contests. Send in something you wrote. What is the worst thing that can happen?

• Learn to re-write. We often just write but never look at it again. So maybe create a habit of editing or re-writing your work. But always finish it.

• Find happiness in imperfection. Your work will never be perfect, enjoy those flaws.

The main thing you can do is to write more. The more you write, and the more you read, the better you become. You’ll make mistakes and you’ll learn from them. Don’t worry about it. Maybe you don’t want to become a professional writer, maybe you just want to write for yourself. That is great and can be an amazing way to let go of any anxiety you feel. Just enjoy the process of expressing yourself now. Later will come whenever it does. What do you want to express right now?

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Are You an Introvert Or Are You Just Shy?

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date January 20, 2021
• No Comments on Are You an Introvert Or Are You Just Shy?

This pandemic has forced us to stay indoors and avoid people. So now are we all automatically introverts? Does this classification of behaviour even hold true? Will we be introverts or extroverts after the pandemic is done? Will we shake hands with strangers at a meeting? Will face to face meetings even happen? Will Zoom dictate all our social interaction? Will college classrooms be with lesser people?

Well no one really knows. But one thing is for sure, this hard classification of being either an introvert or an extrovert is going extinct.

For the longest time, it’s been easy to categorise a quiet person as an introvert and a talkative person as an extrovert. Parents and teachers play their part by reinforcing these stereotypes, because it was done to them as well. The truth is that most of us are Ambiverts, which means that we have some features of extroverts and some of introverts. And almost everyone would agree to that. Carl Jung, who came up with these terms, himself said that nobody can be a 100% extrovert or 100% introvert.

So wait, what is an introvert or extrovert? Simply put, an introvert is someone who gets their energy from being alone and an extrovert is someone who gets their energy from being around other people. Now this is also related to how our individual brains are wired, so there is nothing wrong with being either. You can’t control this aspect.

But a lot of it also has to do with social engineering, which we can control. Most often people who think they’re introverts are actually shy and scared. You’re afraid of being embarrassed or failing, so it’s easy to retreat into books and spend time alone. True introverts choose this alone-time, because they need that time to think. Bill Gates is an introvert, but he deals with millions of people across the world. Elon Musk is an introvert. Meryl Streep is an introvert, but she gets up in front of the camera for a living.

So think about it, are you an introvert or are you just shy?

Introverts tend to be bold, aggressive and intelligent. They just need to go to a lakeside cabin to recharge, and not a party. Many famous people are introverts, but they still work with groups of random people. Sure it can be awkward, but they still get the work done.

When you’re in high school, you might see this image of being an introvert as an identity to have, so you take it. Then people double down and tell you not to be quiet and aloof. So you go even deeper into this hole of being an ‘introvert’. An image often develops that the loud ‘extrovert’ behaviour is rewarded, so you might even form a negative association with being an ‘introvert’.

Now nobody is telling you to be someone you’re not. But unless you explore, there is no way to know who you really are. Rejecting something without trying it, or for the wrong reasons, is not the way forward. Especially after this pandemic.

When you’re in college, you’re going to have projects and study groups with other students. Are you going to wear the badge of being an introvert and reject them? Or will you make an effort to connect with them, and create bonds with people apart from your friends and family. When you join an office, are you going to reject your colleagues? Just because you believe that you’re an introvert? An actual introvert would engage with all of them, but recharge their battery alone at home. Don’t run away from confrontation and collaboration. Don’t let your fear of judgement masquerade as being an ‘introvert’.

Again, this doesn’t mean that you need to hit the next party you’re invited to. It just means that maybe you need to find hacks to be more adaptable. Maybe learn to be more honest with yourself and even others. Maybe you need to learn how to converse with strangers. Often, in large groups, we try to speak to everyone or no one. Next time just try one or two people, but truly engage with them. See what might come out from that. See if you learn something new about yourself. Maybe you’ll reject these tags of ‘introvert’ and ‘extrovert’. And maybe you’ll realise that enjoying solitude is a strength, not a weakness.

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Listen, Don’t Just Hear

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date January 20, 2021
• No Comments on Listen, Don’t Just Hear

‘Be quiet and listen.’

I think we’ve all heard this throughout our lives, and sometimes still do. It can seem like a reprimand, or a dull repetitive sound, based on how many times you’ve heard it and who’s saying it. Most often it’s teachers or parents.

But they aren’t the same thing.

Being quiet and listening are two entirely different actions. This is a myth which has been drilled into our head. And I’m sure the more you think about it, the more you realise how false it is. How many times have you sat quietly in class, but zoned out from your teacher.

And that is the biggest drawback of our high schools. We are never taught how to listen. We have to be quiet during assembly or class, but apart from that we are taught to be ‘Good Orators’. Listening doesn’t really figure in our school’s priorities. You can’t really quantify a good listener, you can’t give a certificate or an award, and you can’t have a high school student stand up on stage and just ‘listen’.

So we need to learn this skill on our own. Why? Because that’s the only way to learn. To actually learn. Not exam syllabus learn, but practical learning which you can actually use in your life. We might think that we’re great listeners, but nobody is going to tell you if you’re not. Only you can figure out if you’re giving the other person enough time to talk.

And it’s important to do that. People are attracted to good listeners because they feel like they’ve been truly heard. People often go deeper and share things that they haven’t before. That forms deeper bonds. Now just imagine the same thing in a work environment, or in a college environment. That’s how you build lasting relations.

We’re often afraid of letting that silence hang in a conversation, so we quickly rush to fill it. We also get that sense of FOMO that we’ve spoken to this one person enough, we need to move on to something else or someone else. We are that restless generation, and this is a good way to just slow down.

Consider this, can you be a musician if you don’t listen? Listen to other musicians? Or to what you play yourself? It’s the same thing. Listening is engaging with another person, and giving them your focus, allowing them to speak. If you want them to listen to you when you talk, why wouldn’t you do the same? Even if you disagree with someone if you let them talk you allow them the space to breathe, making them more receptive to your thoughts. Otherwise, it’s just two people talking over each other and nobody listening.

So why bother about this while you’re still in high school? Because good listeners make great future leaders. Think about it. If you go to a leadership workshop, would you listen or talk? If you wanted to start a business and went to an entrepreneurship workshop, would you listen or talk? A leader is someone who takes the time to listen to people, understands the problem, and then comes up with a solution. What kind of leader comes up with solutions before he even hears the problem? That is a recipe for disaster and bankruptcy.

Now how do you become a better listener?

• Give them your attention. Make eye contact, but don’t stare daggers at them.

• Don’t interrupt, let the other person complete their point.

• Ask questions that cut deeper.

• Read their body language. Listen to the non-verbal cues as well.

• Check your own body language. Don’t stand with folded hands or move restlessly.

• Use affirmative responses to let them know you’re with them.

• Don’t give moral arguments that can stop a conversation.

Nobody likes a person who talks too much. But another way of looking at it is that nobody likes a person who doesn’t listen enough. This is something you learn over a period of time, generally by making mistakes. But you’ll get there. Always remember that a good conversation isn’t between two great speakers, it’s between two great listeners.