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Chapter 1. How silly is this?

Do you think like a wallaby? Or do you think like a shark? Perhaps you think like an eagle
and then suddenly morph into an ant.

If this all sounds a bit silly, well, that’s because it’s supposed to. It’s a bit of fun and a

way of getting your attention. And, very soon it should make sense. It might still be silly,
but it will make sense.

What is problem-solving?

This book is all about finding different ways of

thinking about things. What sort of things?

Well, everyone has to solve all kinds of
problems every day. Some things you may not

normally think of as problems at all, because

you deal with them so easily and they don’t

bother you for too long. These everyday
problems are like whether to have loopy-fruit

or crunchy-chunks for breakfast, or which TV

program to watch. Problem? nah, not much of one really.

You might not call these problems at all. But, when you think about it, little everyday

problems are not much different from the bigger things that really are ‘a problem’. You

are faced with a question – should you do this or that or something else? And you have

to find an answer.

Difficult problems

Some of these problems are so easy, we don’t have to think hard about them, like

whether to get out of bed right now or sleep in for a few more minutes. Some problems

are a bit more difficult because they involve other people and we need to think about
their needs as well as our own - like which movie to see with your friends when some of

your friends like scary ones and others like funny ones.

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