Your problem solving abilities are fundamental for almost all of your day to day activities. However, just like any other aspect of your life, you have to practice them to become better and faster. Problem solving requires a sharp, flexible and focused brain that can handle new and unknown situations and challenges.
Training your brain to solve problems
Regular training of problem solving abilities helps increase your information processing efficiency and decision making ability, enabling you to see solutions clearer and faster.
There are several aspects to problem solving that can pose a challenge to the individual. You may be strong in some areas and less strong in others. Problem solving is typically divided into these four, key areas:
- Clarity – Your ability to view the entire scope of a problem. ‘Clarity’ defines your ability to understand a problem and to understand how to solve the problem. Clarity is important during the entire problem solving process, as problem solving often relates to complex decision-making that requires more than a single action.
- Goals – Your ability to handle several goals and prioritize their importance and relevance. Goals are the main driver behind achieving positive results. A complex problem is usually defined by many possible outcomes which can be beneficial for different stakeholders, and it is therefore your ability to prioritize the importance of multiple outcomes that determines the success of a project.
- Complexity – Your ability to handle large amounts of information and complex interrelations. ‘Complexity’ influences your ability to perceive what possible actions will allow you to achieve your goals. This is highly influenced by your ability to process detailed information and understand what effects a certain area will have on another.
- Time – Your ability to deal with the other three areas within a limited time-scope. Given infinite time, most people would be able to solve a problem, either through ability or luck. Time constraints often determines whether you will succeed or not and being able to solve problems faster is therefore undoubtedly a very beneficial skill to have.
These four key areas usually determine if attempting to solve a problem will result in success or failure. By training your problem solving abilities, you can enable a higher level of intuitive problem solving that can help you not only perform better when solving problems, but also make problems less of an obstacle and less time-consuming
Test your problem solving abilities with Brain+
Our downloadable application is constantly being developed. It is being designed to be easily accessible, entertaining, customizable to your needs and, most importantly, effective. We are working together with leading researches in the field of brain training and cognitive psychology to provide you with the best possible tools for training most aspects of your brain, including problem solving.
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