How I Solve Problems: the 4 C’s

Years ago I saw a play three times in one week. It was written and directed by my friend David Beaird. I have forgotten the title, but I remember the essence: to solve a difficult and urgent problem use the “Four C’s.

OK.  What are the “Four C’s”?

Imagine that you’re flying in an airplane and are lost. If you don’t solve the problem you will die. What do you do?

1. Confess. Confess that you are lost. It’s like alcoholism, or a miserable marriage. You have to first admit that you have a problem that you need to solve. Although this seems obvious, most of us prefer the comfort of feeling that we are in control of the situation. That can be a mistake, sometimes a big mistake. At age sixty-five my mother discovered a lump in her right breast. She didn’t tell anyone for ten months. That turned out to be a very bad idea.
2. Climb. Climb as high as you can, both to give yourself more time to solve the problem and to open yourself to a broader perspective. By climbing higher you might see an airport. Or a thunderstorm chasing you. Perhaps another airplane. You want to access as much information as you can. My mother should have seen a doctor.
3. Contact. Contact a ground station. Ask for help. “Houston, we have a problem.” You have to publically admit that you need help. That step is difficult for many of us, unless we are in serious pain. To paraphrase Proust, “We listen to pleasure. We obey pain.” Isn’t it better to solve the problem before you double up and become immobilized? A close friend of mine was experiencing financial problems. She was having difficulty making her mortgage payments and fell further and further behind. When she finally made an appointment with a financial advisor she was in serious risk of losing her home. Jim Henson, fifty-three years old, creator of The Muppets, died of organ failure because of a strep infection. Quick action could have saved him. He didn’t want to be a bother to people, and declined the suggestion of his family that he should go to the hospital.
4. Commit. Commit to a course of action. You will have limited time before your airplane runs out of fuel. Then the engine will stop and your airplane will crash—with you in it. You have to do something. You have time for only one maneuver. It’s like the Aesop’s fable of “The Cat and the Fox.” One day the hunting dogs began to chase both a cat and a fox. The cat immediately climbed up a tree to safety. The fox used many strategies: double back and forth, ran through a stream to throw the dogs off his scent, hid in a burrow. Nothing worked for the fox (no relation to me), who was eventually caught. Moral of the story: one trick, when it works, is better than many that don’t work. So commit to your course of action—it’s time to perform.

There it is. Memorize the Four C’s. Or write them down on a notepad or in your phone. And think about the situations in which you can use the Four C’s. When you need them it may be too late to look them up.

Confess. Climb. Contact. Commit.

Alan