Do you ever have a problem to solve and immediately come up with a solution? As you start to implement the solution, you start to realize that it is not as simple as you originally thought. Your ego gets in the way and guilts you to continue even though you start to realize that it may not work at all or is just too complicated.
I'll give you a good example that happened to me last night. I recently got the newer model Apple TV. I planned to hook up my older model Apple TV in the basement in our "work-out room". This room has an older TV that does not have a HDMI connection. It instead has a DVI connection, which in simple terms means only the video gets transmitted to the TV (you need a special cable that goes from HDMI on the output of the Apple TV to DVI on the input of the TV). I needed to figure out how to transmit the audio as well (which usually gets transmitted through the HDMI cable). I hope I haven't bored you with these details but these are somewhat important to understand this example.
Here is a listing of my immediate solutions without giving them much thought:
Failed Attempt 1: I have a small TV that has HDMI connections, so my first solution was to go HDMI from the Apple TV to the HDMI on the small TV. My plan was to connect the small TV to my larger TV. From the small TV, I connected an RCA cable from the output (yellow for video, white and red for audio) to the input of the larger TV. I could not get the video to work on the larger TV. I tried many things to get it to work but only the audio would work. What a crazy idea trying to use a TV to run a TV.
Failed Attempt 2: I have an older Sling box that I was no longer using. I could plug the HDMI from the Apple TV to the HDMI on the Sling box. From there, I would use the component output (green, blue, red) to plug into the larger TV. I went through the setup with the Sling box, which kept crashing on me, but could not get the picture to work. I think the issue is that Apple TV has some copyright protection that prevents you from going HDMI to another type of video cable.
Failed Attempt 3: I went from my Apple TV HDMI output using my cable that goes to DVI. The picture on the TV worked but no sound (which was not a surprise, but I was desperate). The Apple TV also has an optic audio output. I looked on the Internet for a converter device that went from HDMI input to DVI & RCA output. No such device existed that I could find. You will see later on in the story that I almost had the right idea, but I continued to jump to conclusions.
Failed Attempt 4: I looked online to see what it would cost to buy a modern TV to replace the old TV. The cost for a TV around 60" was in the ballpark of $1,000, which seems crazy when I have a TV already.
Failed Attempt 5: I thought that maybe I could connect a bluetooth speaker to the Apple TV and then the sound could be played through it. It appears that Apple TV only connects via bluetooth to things like keyboards.
I looked up many other options on the Internet (many more failed attempts) and spent the better part of 3 hours trying to get all these ideas to work. I even dreamed about it last night.
This morning, while I was not thinking about it, I realized that maybe I could buy a converter that takes an optic input and outputs RCA. I could keep my DVI connection and use the converter for the audio. I looked up online and quickly found such a device for about $15. I ordered it and hopefully it works.
As you can see I spent a great deal of time and energy trying a lot of bandaid type solutions with little to show. If someone was with me, they would think I was crazy. If I had been successful with any of the attempts, it would of been mostly by luck.
Don't be so closed minded when you are trying to solve a problem. Don't let your pride get in the way of being open to other solutions. Don't think that the first idea that pops in your head is the best one. I have seen at work this happen many times where things are implemented because someone came up with the solution fast. Lots of time and money gets spent following the wrong path that eventually gets scrapped.
I almost bought a $1,000 TV instead of just spending $15!
Showing posts with label solving problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solving problems. Show all posts
Friday, July 22, 2016
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Mindfulness: Staring So Long You Could Draw It
Mindfulness is the latest craze today. It is simply, not thinking about the past, not thinking about the future, but living in the now. Easier said than done. I am not a mindfulness teacher, just a student.
Someone once told me that office buildings should have showers in every bathroom so that employees could go there to think about their problems and hopefully solve them. Showering is such an automated process to humans, that it seems like a good time to solve all problems.
However, how many times have you driven to work and when you get there, you cannot remember any part of the drive? Somehow you got there, but most likely you were thinking about some problem you needed to solve or some past issue that was bothering you. Unless something like a deer runs out in front of you, you may not remember any of the drive. I think our brains are wired that way to filter out some of the noise, but unfortunately, distraction of what you're really doing is happening.
A friend of mine who died way too young from cancer, once said in a blog to take a look outside tomorrow and try to see something that you have never seen before. I think when our life is nearly over, people often start to see the important things and no longer filter them out. Practising mindfulness helps us see that now.
The next time you are somewhere, most likely waiting for your child to finish a sport or some other hobby, instead of pulling out your phone to surf the internet, try the following practice:
Start first with something that isn't moving. Something simple like a tree. Look at it pretending that in a minute, someone is going to turn you around, hand you a piece of paper, and ask you to draw what you were staring at. You will start to notice things like how the bark looks, where branches come out of the tree, the details on the leaves, possibly some imperfections on the tree from damage, and many other things.
You will realize that in the past, you were often looking at things like a person who needed glasses. Once they get the glasses, they realize that now they can see the details like blades of grass. (Instead of a green blur). Slowly over time their eyes weakened and they did not realize that they were no longer seeing the things they use to see.
After doing that exercise, try looking at everything ahead of you. You can even test yourself by really seeing if you can draw it.
Another exercise is to stare at something that you have looked at many times before (something simple like a wall) and see if you can see some type of detail that you never noticed before.
By doing the above exercises, it forces you to concentrate on what you're doing and therefore keeps you in the present moment.
If you have something really bothering you, try going to a mall and sit down on one of the benches, leave your phone in your pocket on airplane mode, and just concentrate on staring at the people as they go by. Sometime later that day, your solution will pop in your mind.
I find that if I practice mindfulness, the answers to my problems will come to me later, usually when I'm doing something else besides thinking of my problems. By doing other things, your solutions will come to you when you least expect them.
This topic is so large that I will contribute more to this subject in future blogs.
Someone once told me that office buildings should have showers in every bathroom so that employees could go there to think about their problems and hopefully solve them. Showering is such an automated process to humans, that it seems like a good time to solve all problems.
However, how many times have you driven to work and when you get there, you cannot remember any part of the drive? Somehow you got there, but most likely you were thinking about some problem you needed to solve or some past issue that was bothering you. Unless something like a deer runs out in front of you, you may not remember any of the drive. I think our brains are wired that way to filter out some of the noise, but unfortunately, distraction of what you're really doing is happening.
A friend of mine who died way too young from cancer, once said in a blog to take a look outside tomorrow and try to see something that you have never seen before. I think when our life is nearly over, people often start to see the important things and no longer filter them out. Practising mindfulness helps us see that now.
The next time you are somewhere, most likely waiting for your child to finish a sport or some other hobby, instead of pulling out your phone to surf the internet, try the following practice:
Start first with something that isn't moving. Something simple like a tree. Look at it pretending that in a minute, someone is going to turn you around, hand you a piece of paper, and ask you to draw what you were staring at. You will start to notice things like how the bark looks, where branches come out of the tree, the details on the leaves, possibly some imperfections on the tree from damage, and many other things.
You will realize that in the past, you were often looking at things like a person who needed glasses. Once they get the glasses, they realize that now they can see the details like blades of grass. (Instead of a green blur). Slowly over time their eyes weakened and they did not realize that they were no longer seeing the things they use to see.
After doing that exercise, try looking at everything ahead of you. You can even test yourself by really seeing if you can draw it.
Another exercise is to stare at something that you have looked at many times before (something simple like a wall) and see if you can see some type of detail that you never noticed before.
By doing the above exercises, it forces you to concentrate on what you're doing and therefore keeps you in the present moment.
If you have something really bothering you, try going to a mall and sit down on one of the benches, leave your phone in your pocket on airplane mode, and just concentrate on staring at the people as they go by. Sometime later that day, your solution will pop in your mind.
I find that if I practice mindfulness, the answers to my problems will come to me later, usually when I'm doing something else besides thinking of my problems. By doing other things, your solutions will come to you when you least expect them.
This topic is so large that I will contribute more to this subject in future blogs.
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