Wednesday, January 21, 2015

January 21, 2015: The Squirrel in My Living Room

I was in my living yesterday morning going through my morning routine when some motion caught my eye.  I turned to look at it, and found a squirrel staring at me.  What is a squirrel doing in my house?  And how did it get here?  And how do I get it out before I go to work this morning?

It was my first problem of the day.

I ignored it at first.  This was a conscious decision, and is a simple way to start solving problems.  No, it's not "ignore it and hope it goes away".  That would be ridiculous in this case, as all the doors and windows were closed.  Instead, it was an admission that I didn't know exactly what to do.  I needed more information before I could take action.  So I waited.  The squirrel walked over to the wood box next to the fireplace, and seemed comfortable enough in there for a bit.  I continued ignoring it.  A few minutes later I heard some crashing from the breakfast nook and I went to see what was going on.  The squirrel was climbing up through a birdhouse on the window seat, and jumping from the top of the birdhouse at the screen window.  Our windows open out, so the screens are on the inside.

So this, finally, was information I could use.  The squirrel did want to get outside, liked the birdhouse, and wanted to jump instead of walk.  I walked over to the window, removed the screen, opened the window wide enough for the squirrel to leave.  During this process, I scared it, and it jumped right past me, and that's when I noticed it was a flying squirrel.  I'd never knowingly seen one.  It was pretty cool.

The squirrel had run back to the living room, so I followed it.  It wandered back to the breakfast nook, where it climbed a different place and tried to fly out a different window.  It gave up on that window, and ignored the window I had kindly opened for it.  It tried to leave the breakfast nook, but I stood in its way.  It certainly could have run past me, but it was too scared.  Another key data point.  At this point I was hopeful this would be over soon.  It ran into the window seat, and tried to fly out another window.  It tried to leave the nook again.  I blocked it again.  Finally, it went back to the birdhouse and jumped into the open window.  And then it wiggled out of the open window.  And I resumed my morning, problem solved.

I think the practical applications of this experience are powerful.  When faced with a surprising situation, many of us will make decisions and take actions immediately.  If we have not encountered this exact situation before, that's not a good idea.  The first thing to come to mind when something new happens is, "Do I understand this situation well enough to take reliably positive action?  What are the risks and rewards of immediate action?"  I could have run through the house, opened all the windows and doors and waited for the squirrel to leave.  But I ran the risk of not seeing it go.  If I didn't see it go, it could still be in my house when I left for work, and I could have a movie-ready squirrel-ravaged home when I returned.  In the mean time, it was below freezing outside, and my house would get cold.

So I was able to define my problem a little better as I ignored it and let my mind think through the consequences and parameters of my problem.

  1. The squirrel wants to get outside (that's an assumption since I can't ask it).  
  2. It wants to leave by jumping instead of walking.
  3. It is scared of me.
  4. I can't catch it.


Some of these parameters are limiting.  Not being able to ask the squirrel what it wants and not being able to catch it are limits to my problem solving.  But knowing it was scared and that it wanted to jump out of the house provided good guidance for a solution.  By providing a place to exit the house via jumping and then using the squirrel's fear of me, I was able to effectively corral a wild rodent and make it do what we both wanted it to do.

Most of our problems can follow a similar pattern:

  1. Notice the problem
  2. Evaluate the problem: have you solved this particular problem before?  If not, what are the consequences to leaving it unsolved for now?  Unsolved permanently?
  3. Evaluate possible solution limits: what actions are possible?  Which are impossible?
  4. What other guiding factors can help you to shape your solution?  Are there people with specific expertise available to help you with technical solutions?  How does the problem want to be solved?
  5. What solutions appear within the confines of the limits and guiding factors you have discovered?  Are these solutions reasonable?  If so, you can take action.  If not, it's likely time to revisit the limits and guiding factors.


Eventually, this loop will usually provide you with a solution.  There are some problems that simply cannot be solved, and those are things we have to live with.  More on that next time.

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