{"id":9300,"date":"2022-04-07T10:07:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T22:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=9300"},"modified":"2022-04-07T10:07:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T22:07:34","slug":"throwback-thursday-journalling-to-make-progress-on-really-difficult-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=9300","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: Journalling to Make Progress on Really Difficult Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article first appeared on Thesislink in July 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been grappling with a Really Difficult Problem (RDP) on a project lately. You know the kind: necessary to deal with in order to make progress, but frustratingly complicated and hard to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RDPs are a familiar part of the research journey. As researchers, we often face Really Difficult Problems because that\u2019s part of generating new knowledge. It\u2019s literally our job to do the tricky math; to find the hidden solutions; to articulate the complicated points; and to overcome challenges all the time<\/em>. That\u2019s part of the reason why our work is valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it also makes our jobs rather challenging. Because usually, if someone has a problem at work, they can Google the answer or ask around with colleagues. For researchers, it\u2019s not so simple. You can\u2019t Google a problem if you\u2019re the only person working on it! And though colleagues or supervisors will often have helpful insights, they may not be able to help if your problem is something that you already know more about than they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the case of my current Really Difficult Problem, I am the only person who can solve it. The exact details of my particular RDP are exceedingly boring, but suffice to say it\u2019s a complex technical issue that I need to figure out in order to succeed with a project. Solving this latest RDP has been a recurring entry on every to-do list I\u2019ve written for the past 3 months\u2026 and for every day of those 3 months (until recently), I\u2019ve made exactly zero progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first instinct with RDPs is to do everything else except<\/em> solve the problem. I tend to put them in the proverbial \u2018too hard basket\u2019 and get easily distracted. Sometimes I do other work that\u2019s easier, and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes I give up and watch TV \u2013 without really enjoying it, because I feel guilty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But bottom line, I tend to procrastinate on solving RDPs. That\u2019s exactly what I did in this case, for months\u2026 until the pressure mounted, and I had no choice but to find a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I spent some time staring blankly at the RDP. Unsurprisingly, that didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, I spent some more time trying the exact same ineffective solutions that I\u2019d tried previously. That really<\/em> didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was at an impasse. So out of desperation, I tried something left-field: I journalled about the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pulled up a blank Word document and wrote about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • what I remembered about the RDP from when it first arose<\/li>
  • the techniques that I had already used in my attempt to solve it<\/li>
  • why those attempts didn\u2019t work<\/li>
  • the roadblocks stopping me from trying other solutions<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    I was, in effect, narrating<\/em> the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"A<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The first couple of pages were a log of frustration. All I was doing was creating a picture of what didn\u2019t<\/em> work. But soon, my note-taking sparked some more ideas about what could<\/em> work. I thought of other angles on the problem; other approaches to try. The journalling process helped me to think in a more structured and organised way about the RDP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Crucially, the journalling process has also diminished the power of my RDP in my own mind. It no longer seems like an insurmountable obstacle. It\u2019s just a problem \u2014 a hard one, for sure \u2014 but I have pages of notes guiding my path toward solving it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I haven\u2019t solved my RDP just yet, but I\u2019ve made inroads. I have more potential solutions to try, and I have a lot more confidence in my ability to get past this difficult phase in my project. And now I\u2019m kicking myself; because I made more progress in one day<\/em> of journalling about the problem than I did in 3 months of ignoring it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What are your techniques for overcoming RDPs in your research? Tell us in the comments!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This article first appeared on Thesislink in July 2020. I’ve been grappling with a Really Difficult Problem (RDP) on a project lately. You know the kind: necessary to deal with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6725,"featured_media":8179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29],"tags":[102,58,168,55],"class_list":["post-9300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-3","category-throwback-thursday","tag-challenges","tag-organisation","tag-productivity","tag-tips-tricks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/karla-hernandez-LrlyZzX6Sws-unsplash.jpg?fit=2179%2C2727&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83npQ-2q0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9300"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9303,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9300\/revisions\/9303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}