Change your perspective.

As a blogger and a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time at the computer.  Lucky, I don't suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, but I've had some stress issues with my wrists. Especially when I was trying to crank out my 130 page dissertation for my masters degree.

When I talked to the doctor about it, she told me that I should get some braces to wear at night.  She explained that they would prevent me from holding my hands in a stressful position, and allow my arms to heal overnight.  Then, during the day, I'd be able to type away.

I thought about what she said for a moment, then asked, "Could I wear the braces when I work instead, and prevent the damage in the first place?"

She gave me a surprised look, and then agreed that it would work.

And that's exactly what I've done.  Every time my wrists start to bother me, I slip on my braces and type away.  Since I can't hold my hands in a stressful position with the braces on, I can't hurt them.  It's a perfect solution!  (I even have cute wrist warmers to put over the braces so I can type in public without looking like an invalid.)

What was really interesting to me about this whole experience was that we had such completely different thought processes:

My doctor focused on how to cure my injury.

I focused on how to prevent it so I didn't get hurt in the first place.

Of course, it makes sense about why we looked at the problem from different angles.  Doctors generally deal with people who are already hurt, and so their focus is on curing.  Whereas, as the person with the injury, I not only wanted to fix it, I wanted to make sure it didn't happen again!

Now, everytime I wear my wrist braces, I'm reminded of that conversation - and I'm actually happy that I keep thinking about it.  

Why?  

Because it reminds me of a really nifty tool for creative thinking: changing perspectives.

Generally, when we think of ideas, we think of ideas as ourselves:

• "What would make something better for me?"  
• "What in my usual sphere of knowledge would work with what we're trying to accomplish?"
• "What do I think would be an interesting change?"

It works great, until we get stuck in rut and the ideas dry up.

To break out of that rut, all we need to do is to deliberately shift our thinking to look at the challenge from someone else's perspective.

Then, it's not just about what we know.  It's about what would make an experience better for a patient. Or how a interior designer would improve a car.  Or even (if we really want to stretch) what changes a toothfairy would make to a bed!

That moves our thinking away from our normal thought processes and towards possible better solutions.  Not all are winners, but it's always better to have a large pool of possibilities to choose from.

And, it's good not to get stuck in one way of thinking.  I definitely appreciate it when I can walk away from my computer after a long day of typing and have pain-free arms!

Comments

[Paul (from Idea Sandbox)]

Do they also deflect bullets?

[Jim Belfiore]

You've just illustrated two concepts in creative problem solving.

The first was an application of root-cause analysis. (You asked your doctor about a therapy to eliminate the cause of the wrist problem, rather than the symptom.)

The second, and more innovative concept was an application of thinking analogous to what the TRIZ methodology teaches us about the power of looking for (and resolving) contradictions in any functional interaction.

When I examine your problem using a classic TRIZ contradiction matrix, you've established a very basic tradeoff:

You want to heal your wrists by wearing bands when you're not working at the computer. This leads to eventual re-injury when you get back to working at the computer.

In TRIZ, we can examine this as a trade-off between the benefit of 'object-affected harmful factors' (your injury is being mitigated somewhat) and 'productivity' (the mitigation is temporary when you re-injure your wrists).

The best inventive principle that's suggested to resolve this trade-off is "Blessing in disguise". You did this when you suggested to your doctor that the awkwardness of wearing braces while you type would in fact yield a larger benefit by addressing the cause of your problem.

To your point, you shifted your way of thinking about the problem (and in the same way that the TRIZ method would have recommended!)

Great article. Keep wearing those bands!

[Luc Debaisieux]

Katie,
How to say this... I'm totally in phase with the idea. What your story illustrates also is that one can learn and extrapolate from the most unexpected situation they may encounter in their everyday lives. I love the "twist of perspective" you point to our eyes. Definitely a creative key to problem solving. Drew McLellan has a nice post running on now on "turning bad characteristics into good ones" - http://bit.ly/4ujn

[Paul (from Idea Sandbox)]

But what about the bullets?