How can we achieve any goal?

Introduce a skill and tool used in life and work. How to solve problems simply, reliably and stably, this routine is called four-step problem solving method.

This problem is neither too difficult nor too simple. Don't face up to difficulties, take the initiative to find problems that are too difficult, and don't talk about things, just look for problems that you can do. In order to make sure that you really understand this problem, you'd better express it in your own words and restate it in various forms.

No matter how you rephrase it, don't forget to point out the main problem: what do you want to solve? Know what? What conditions need to be met?

The key to this step is to get good ideas. Your past experience in solving problems and your knowledge are the sources of ideas. You have to ask yourself: have you solved any problems related to the present? Can the method used at that time still be used now? Do you want to do it? What adjustments should you make?

If the idea still won't come, try to change the composition of this problem: known, unknown and conditional, and replace them one by one until you find a similar problem that you have solved.

Getting an idea requires knowledge, good habits, concentration and luck, and it is relatively simple to implement, mainly patience. Remind yourself repeatedly: check every step.

There are two kinds of tests, one is intuition, and intuition is to ask yourself, is this step right at first glance? One is proof. Proof is to ask yourself, can you strictly prove that this step is correct? Both are useful, but they are two different things.

Don't settle the problem and waste the opportunity to consolidate your knowledge and improve your skills. Check the argumentation process again, try to solve the problem in another way, find a simpler method, and ask, can this solution be used to solve other problems?

Summary is the best moment of inspiration.

The above four-step solution method comes from how to solve: a new aspect of mathematical method. This is written by the great mathematician Paulia. Before becoming famous, Polya used to be a middle school math teacher, among whom was von Neumann.

Paulia has made many achievements in number theory, but with the passage of time, what people remember most is this book, which is aimed at teachers and students and tells how to solve mathematical problems. Tao Zhexuan, the most famous mathematical genius today, used it to prepare for the Olympic Games when he was a child.

This book is suitable not only for geniuses, but also for ordinary people. With a total sales volume of over one million copies, 17 language versions, it is the best-selling math book in history.

After reading it, I have two major feelings. First, if my math teacher had used this book, my math would not be so bad as it is now. Second, this four-step problem solving method is universal.

Paulia said that it applies to middle school students as well as college students. It doesn't matter, as long as it's math. I think it's more than that.

There is a complete list of questions corresponding to the four-step method. Even if you are not facing a math problem but a variety of life problems, the four-step problem solving method and problem list are extremely valuable. It applies to countless other situations and helps everyone find a solution to their own problems, no matter what.

What unknown has been solved? Know what? What are the conditions? Are the conditions sufficient? If you can draw, you must draw, break down the conditions into parts, and repeat the questions in your own words.

Have you ever seen similar or related problems before? Can the methods used before be applied this time? Do you need to introduce auxiliary assumptions in different places? Are the conditions sufficient? Can you construct a simpler problem than now and solve the simple one first? If we fine-tune the known figures and conditions, or even change the unknowns, can we find clues to solve the problem?

Have you checked every step? Can you see that this step is right? Can you prove that this step is correct?

Did you check the results? Has the demonstration process been checked? Can you deduce this result in another way? Can this method be used to solve other problems?

In Paulia's view, the list of these questions:

Must be systematic, natural, obvious and in line with common sense, to prevent interruption of the process of forming ideas;

Be sure to ask repeatedly and internalize it into a muscle reaction;

Must be universal, not only applicable to current problems, but also applicable to all situations;

It is necessary to gradually lead from general problems to specific problems, activate thinking, and then return to general problems, and so on.

Only in this way can we point out the direction of thinking for practitioners and leave enough room for efforts.

Paulia's four-step problem solving method and problem list apply heuristic learning method. Heuristic learning originated from the famous sentence eureka by the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes, which means "discovery" and has been passed down to this day. It does not guarantee the perfect result, but attaches importance to practicality. It is a classic method to find, solve and learn problems.

Heuristic learning, simple but not easy, is no secret in itself. You can understand at a glance. It is absolutely useful to follow the prescription, but you must practice hard to achieve something.

Ray Dalio's success depends on a very similar strategy. He founded Qiaoshui Capital at the age of 28 and now manages more than 654.38+050 billion US dollars. He is one of the most successful hedge funds in recent years. I will introduce his decision-making method in the later updated article "How to use logic and algorithms to incite group wisdom". Those who are interested can look forward to it.

Here is his five-step road to success, similar to Paulia's four-step problem solving method.

Generally speaking, talent, luck and hard work are indispensable to success, but Dario doesn't think so.

He believes that success does not require high talent, and everyone can achieve it; Luck is just an excuse; Success depends only on hard work, and hard work is unreasonable. It depends on whether you choose or not, and it depends on everyone's choice. Dario said that to achieve the goal, only five steps are needed:

First, set goals.

Second, look for obstacles to the goal.

Third, diagnose the problem and make a plan.

Fourth, make a list of tasks to solve the problem.

Fifth, resolutely carry out the task

Then these five steps are iterated repeatedly.

Dario stressed that it must be implemented step by step. Setting a goal is setting a goal, don't think about whether it can be completed; Diagnostic problems are diagnostic problems. Don't think about how to solve it.

Each of the above five steps requires different abilities, and ordinary people cannot have them at the same time. How not to know is much more important than how much you know.

To manage your ignorance well, you must first accept your shortcomings, then learn how to make up for them, and more importantly, keep open, find people who are better than you and learn from them. In the end, whether you can achieve your goal or not is entirely your own business. No matter what the environment is, you are the only one to take responsibility, and there is no excuse.

When setting a goal, whether it can be achieved or not, it will help you set a lofty goal that you really want to achieve but may not dare to think about at present. This means a belief: you must believe that you can achieve any goal, even if you don't know how to achieve it when you set it.

Dario himself thinks so and does so: as long as you repeat the previous five-step effort method, no matter how high the goal is, it will come into your range sooner or later.

Facing the endless road ahead, how to manage yourself? To succeed, there must be two me. Making decisions is "me" in itself, and these decisions determine whether you can achieve your goals; "Meta-me" has been looking at "me" and is a designer, supervisor and evaluator.

The most important thing for me is that I must be objective. The thinking of "meta-ego" helps to "watch" difficulties objectively and detached, so as not to be entangled by "ego" in the face of difficulties.

Dario emphasized in the planning stage that we should think through the possible problems and their solutions, imagine how to get to the present and how to take the next step, just like writing a movie script.

Write down the plan, the finer the better. It is a story, one end is your goal, and the other end is the task to be solved. Don't forget your story because you are busy with specific tasks. Review it from time to time. Besides daily exercises, there is still a long way to go.

Mastering routines can achieve any goal. Paulia's four-step solution and Dario's five-step road to success. They have similar steps and the same spirit. They always face the truth, calmly face the shortcomings, plan carefully, train repeatedly and pay attention to feedback.

Dario said that the road to success is so simple, but it is difficult to achieve. I think Paulia will totally agree.