If You Don't Have the Right Tool - Improvise!

I'm starting to think the world is incapable of problem-solving. I run in to it a lot at work with those younger than myself. I have encountered some around my age or older but what is it with people in general not being able to problem-solve? They don't take the time to look at the issue and figure a way to solve it. They rely on people like me who have the answers to their problems.  From a work perspective sure, tap the person who has been there 22 years but seriously, I shouldn't have to serve up answers on a platter.  No one bothers to read the training guides or videos, they just want you to give them the answer. 

When something breaks there is usually a tool to fix it but sometimes that tool might not be available. You have to get creative and think about the issue and come up with an alternate plan. You have to improvise, get a little crafty!  

As a viewer of Bucky Lasek's Buck Yeah channel this came up when he had to do an adjustment to the fenders on the car he was driving as part of One Lap of America. He mentioned in his video that the tires were rubbing against the fenders a bit and needed to fix it.  There is a tool for that but given Bucky's location he had to improvise. So many people gave him grief for it, so much so he had to pin a comment to the video. 

I understood what Bucky was doing and it was pretty ingenious if you ask me. If people hadn't been so singularly focused on him not using the right tool, they would have realized Bucky had just taught them an alternate way to bend fenders so they don't rub your tires.  Bucky improvised.  He took his knowledge and experience of building cars, racing them, etc. and came up with a way to fix the issue.

If there is ever a zombie apocalypse, I'm fairly certain all the people who were butt hurt over what Bucky did will die first. If you can't problem-solve and improvise then you're screwed. 

My dad was able to create anything out of junk. He was able to fix just about anything and was good at working out a solution to a problem.  Sometimes, I'd ask him what he was working on and together we'd work it out or I'd come home from work with potential solutions. 

I hope once people settle down from their mild butt hurt from Bucky's video that they'll come to understand what he did, why he did it the way he did and realize that they just learned something new. 

I hope my co-workers will take the time to figure stuff out instead of constantly just emailing me or calling me because it's easier. I'm happy to help people but I'm not a help desk. Let's be honest, it will probably never happen. One can hope though, right?

Even with my dysthymia, there are coping strategies that over time quit working and I have to adjust and adapt.  I have to find new ways to keep going. I have to improvise but whatever is going on I find a way to move forward.  I can't fix my dysthymia but I can learn more about it, about myself and give myself the chance to be better than the day before. I may not always have the right tools but I know I simply can improvise.

Today's music treat is Within Temptation's - 'Whole World Is Watching' featuring Piotr Rogucki.  I'm more familiar with the album version of this song featuring Dave Pirner but a little change is a good.

Rock on!

~Maynard