Life is a long fall from the womb to the grave. On our way down we get our solid share of problems to solve. Some are petty. Some are not. But the latter will batter and bruise you if you don't take care of them.

The funny thing is that solving problems is a problem itself. I mean, do you have any method to tackle them? Any tool, maybe? Do you just put on your helmet of optimism and hope and run head headfirst into the robust wall of problems?

I really hope you don't. Like I did for a long time. I was like a retarded chimpanzee who tried to lick his finger and put it in a keyhole. But to no one's surprise, that never worked.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

Because that's the thing about repeating some actions (no matter how stupid they are!) for the long period of time - it's hard to break the vicious circle. I guess that the helmet crumbles away after 10th or 20th time. And then you just keep on hitting the same wall with your bare head.

Until you suffer head trauma. Serious enough to actually convince you that it DOES make sense.
But it doesn't.

You need some tools. Not a finger. I am familiar with many methods and systems. But there is just ONE I use on the permanent basis.

It's simple, elegant. And it has the power to transform you into the problem-solving beast.

But we will get to the specifics in a moment.

It doesn't happen just like that.

So where can you start?

The Problem-Solving List

The idea is deceptively simple. But it helps you to put some order into the way you solve your problems.

Take a piece of paper and draw a line across the middle. Or use the word document.
Whatever works for you.

Write down the problem you're having on the left.
The right side is reserved for potential solutions or ideas.

That's why, try to come up with as many of them as it's only possible. Don't hold back.

It's worth mentioning that sometimes ideas which (seemingly) have nothing to do with each other can turn into a breath-taking answer to your problems!

Tools To Help You With Producing Ideas

Creativity is like a muscle. The more you use it, the better you become. But you have to start somewhere, right?

Here are two websites which help you produce some ideas. To be a bit more precise, they are random word generators.

Just choose the number of random words you would like to see and click the "generate" button.
And BAM! Magic happens! Ideas!

Treat these websites as your birdbrained buddy. He doesn't know exactly what you want, but he wants to help. So he feeds you some ideas to play with. Let's take a look at the screen-shots to see what I mean.

It might look meaningless. But is it? Let's move to some practical application.

Problem - You Want To Design An Extraordinary Lamp

Of course, you would like to come up with some (relatively) fresh design. But you just keep looking at the damn piece of paper with a blank expression on your face. Frustration sticks out its ugly head. Anger overcomes you. Damn you Muses! But before you break something, let's use some of the words from the random word generator.

Words: ham, rib, gossip, sunburn, speaker, spotlight, boxing gloves, iceberg

Some potential ideas:

rib - I guess it would look cool if instead of a normal, boring lamp, you could have something skeleton-related. Maybe a skull impaled on a spike? Oh, and the switch button can be hidden inside an eye socket! Since we are at it, why not design the entire line of gruesome lamps?!

speaker - why not connect the speaker with a lamp? It might look cool! And will be useful as well!

iceberg and spotlight - I can't help but combine them in my head. The result is a light house.
Don't ask me why. Anyway, the lighthouse as a lamp sounds quite interesting. Doesn't it?

What Will You Do With This Knowledge?