Tuesdays are for slicing about life. Join us at Two Writing Teachers!
Sitting at our kitchen table enjoying breakfast and conversation with our overnight guests, Markus and Alice, we covered a lot of conversational territory. They currently live in Vienna, so some of their favorite destinations was a topic for a while, but we also moved on to ideas around leadership and management. I wish I could remember exactly the pathway into the discussion we had around problem-solving, but I do remember exactly Markus's words.
"Is it a problem that needs to be solved is what I like to ask," Markus said.
We agreed that there are problems that come up in all domains of life that either don't need to be solved or can't be solved. That being said, Markus had a follow up question:
Is it a problem that needs to be solved now?
Trust me: the next time there's a problem in my world--personal or professional--, I'm asking these questions! Sometimes sitting around the breakfast table on a Sunday morning with friends who are wise is a perfect thing to do, and sometimes, you even get snippets of their wisdom to share.
Happy Slicing!
These are interesting questions to frame discussions and potential actions/interventions. I'm so glad you enjoyed time with friends and "snippets of wisdom" as well, and then opted to share them with us!
ReplyDeleteI love table conversations - breakfast, lunch, dinner or simply tea around the table. Stories are shared and people connect. I think the questions you walked away with thanks to Markus are keepers, for sure. "Is it a problem that needs to be solved now?" really will help prioritize and balance all the "probelems" that arise in our days! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI really love the premise of your new blog: to find the right words. I've thought about starting something like that as well. A place with no confines.
ReplyDeleteYour subject today makes me think of my classroom, our country (alas), but also of family and relationships. Whenever we face problems, the ability to filter through the problems and move forward determines our course. As we journey though, Markus' question is one worth holding on to.
Great words to center us . . . in these interesting times!
ReplyDeleteWhat useful questions! I think as educators we tend to congregate around problems, deficits, hurdles. When we are tackling any of these we feel useful and needed. It's often a much greater challenge to step back and ask ourselves if the thing before us is actually a problem, and if so, for whom? Your friend is certainly onto something here. The simplicity of the questions really helps to give us a hook we can hold onto. Thanks for sharing the wisdom.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice when wisdom that can change the way we think is stumbled upon in casual conversation.
ReplyDelete