Ask HN: How do you become a better solver of life's problems?
IMHO, part of becoming a better problem-solver lies in one's 1) understanding, 2) approach and 3) execution.
Are there best practices for becoming skilled in one, two or even all three?
Are there best practices for becoming skilled in one, two or even all three?
Problem solving usually involves experiencing discomfort.
The ability to push past discomfort is key to solving non-trivial problems. Like a muscle, this ability improves with practice.
The problem could be to lift a heavy weight or to solve a hard coding question. Either way, there is certainly much to be gained from having the right understanding and approach but successful execution is mostly the end result of having a long consistent history of smaller successful executions.
Sun Tzu: "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win. "
I'm at an age/stage where I want to improve upon what I don't know well, including within myself. The main thread seems to be lack of execution, but perhaps it's actually discomfort avoidance.
Specifically his latest book: http://yourturn.link
You're not solving anything if you're not executing. Start with execution based on some initial approach. When the discomfort reaches intolerable levels, find a better approach. You only develop insight (understanding) after a few cycles of modified approaches and changed executions. Understanding comes later.
Like "shahbaby" said, the toughest life problems to solve are the ones which require endurance of high amounts of discomfort.
Let's be tough as nails!
Time for some discomfort
The above advice only works when you are stuck and don't know where to start so it's better to start anywhere. But the limitation starts to show very quickly.