A Wintry Perspective on Problem Solving…
Being from Ohio, we are accustomed to snow. We see it every winter, whether we want to or not. It comes every year, sometimes with a warning, sometimes not. Sometimes we know how much we are getting in advance, sometimes the weather reporters miss their predictions.
This is a story about one such snowstorm. Let’s be honest, this was a blizzard dumping many inches in the area where I live. As luck would have it, I was scheduled to work that Saturday morning and the blizzard came on Friday night and continued snowing throughout the day Saturday.
The short version is that my Saturday sucked. Here is why it sucked:
- I woke up at 3 am to make what is usually a 30 min drive but it took almost 2 hrs on awful road-closed conditions.
- Only 5 of us made it in for a crew which is normally 15 people.
- I limped home on slightly less awful roads to arrive at about 5 pm.
- Then I had a driveway full of snow to clear.
I could have let it stay, but then it would have frozen overnight and been harder to shovel the next morning.
But this story is not about Ohio snow, it is about shovelling driveways….
So I bundled up and headed out to the cold night and the darkening sky to face a driveway about 15 feet wide and 40 feet long, filled with snow about 20″ deep (yes, I measured it). Can you imagine my excitement as I stood out there?
As I shovelled and shovelled and shovelled, I learned some things…
- Snow happens to everyone, sometimes a dusting, sometimes a driveway 20″ deep.
- Some driveways get more snow, some less, no reason sometimes it just happens that way.
- The driveway always looks longest before the first shovelful of snow and even the second.
- When the snow is deep, it doesn’t matter how strong you think you are, sometimes the snow is too much for you or your shovel to take at one scoop.
- Sometimes you need to take 2-3 shovels full to move your deep snow from a section in front of you.
- It would be great if we could scoop the snow from the bottom and move it quickly, but sometimes you need to take a different approach.
- Sometimes snow is best handled from the top and work your way down shovel by heavy shovel to get to the ground.
- While in the middle of shovelling, it is hard to see if you’ve made any progress. You may have to step back to see your progress.
- Sometimes the progress is very small compared to the whole, looooong driveway. Keeping your eye on the big picture/ goal helps you see your progress.
- It takes forever to shovel the driveway, or so it seems. But as you shovel more and more, scoop by scoop, the time loses relevance, and it passes quickly, the more involved with solving the problem.
- While you can move your snow out of the middle of the driveway, it is still on the side of the driveway. But at least now you can move and with time, this small stuff will melt away.
- It is often good to work without the noise of the background, cell phone, etc. Eliminate these distractions so you can have time to work while alone with your thoughts. It will help you clear the cluttering, confusing background noise that interferes with your thoughts.
- Some people get their driveways done quicker. Some have snow blowers, some have help, and some seem to have more energy, but the bottom line is they all have snow to tackle in their own way with their own means.
- Some people were done quicker and got to play. Or were they? Did they just postpone handling the snow that was all around them? Inevitably, they will have to handle their snow.
- The bottom line is we all have snow in our lives. Sometimes we know how much snow is coming, but most time we don’t. Either way, we have to handle it.
Snow happens…. Problems happen…
No one can escape this fact of life.
What we need to do is:
Recognize this,
Accept it and
Take Action to resolve it.
You can’t hide from it.
Snow comes into everyone’s lives regardless of where they live, who they are or the job they have. But no matter how tired you may be, or how deep the snow is, it is always better to get in there and start shovelling. The sooner you start, the sooner your driveway is clear. Once your driveway is clear, maybe you can help another person clear their driveway just a little quicker.
Leave a Reply