How can I think of things like this sooner?

What use is a clock in the bathroom if it would just get fogged up while you’re in the shower? Would you even be able to see the time?

What you’re talking about is what the Buddhists call “mindfulness.” Ideally, we should be mindful of everything. The Gautama Buddha said that he could survive on a single grain of rice. He didn’t mean that he literally ate only a single grain, but that each grain of rice was a completely unique experience for him. Zen meditation can help in achieving mindfulness. If you’re serious about this, I recommend finding your local meditation centre (most major cities have at least one) and learning first stillness, and then mindfulness.

@SmashTheState I’ll ask my Buddhist roomie about it. Thanks, very interesting.

Any other kernels that you might want to share with similar ends?

@Ltryptophan Well, on a more mystical level, there’s Gurdjeff’s “Fourth Way” which pursues the same goal of complete wakefulness that Buddhism does, but in a way which is more familiar to people coming from a Western perspective. Gurdjeff’s philosophy can be difficult to understand, but it’s ultimately rewarding. However, you should be aware that Gurdjeff teaches there is extreme danger in wakefulness, since those who are still asleep hate and fear those who wake, and will instinctively pursue them and destroy them if they can.

Well, consider this: problem solving starts with need. So do you really have a problem that needs a solution?
Making problem solving second nature rests on desire. As in, how strong is your desire to solve problems creatively, effectively and efficiently? Strong, somewhat strong, ho hum? Consider your answer to that in terms of other aspects of your life and life style.

Note that the mental exercise is to ask yourself questions, consider the answers and repeat until you reach an answer you comfortably use. Instinct and intuition are based on practice and repetition.

Do you need a clock in the bathroom every day? Then consider, would any one else need a clock in the bathroom on an every day basis. Is this really a problem? Most people don’t have one there because it is not a social concept to keep time in the bathroom. The bathroom is someplace that time does not exist: you use it as long as you need to and then you are done.

@AnonymousGirl I have a clock in my shower that is made for the shower. Waterproof, fogproof.

@Ltryptophan I just make lists of things that I think will make my life easier and keep the list with me at all times to jot down solutions as I see them.

@DaphneT, @AnonymousGirl The example was just illustrative of thinking that needed a bigger fix. Just the latest example. When I see another one, I’ll bring it to you. Maybe you’ll see a pattern from that example that’s less problematic.

@chyna wow! me too…want to chat about lists?

I have had a battery-operated clock in my bathrooms, since 1969. I must admit that it was my wifes idea, so I would not be late for roll call.

What you are doing on Fluther, typing and using your brain, should be a big help with your problem.

Keep it up.

The word for what you want is kaizen. Along with @SmashTheState‘s excellent advice about being “mindful”, be especially mindful to continually answer the mental question: “How can I improve my life?”

That can be as simple as keeping a grocery shopping list in your shirt pocket, as I have trained myself to do, to keeping spare glasses anywhere you might need them, rearranging your pantry to make things easier to inventory or grab… whatever makes your life better, big or small.

@chyna I don’t remember ever hearing about a clock like that before I read your comment. That’s cool. I’m glad I said something. :)

@Ltryptophan Alright. :)

This thread is significant.

I can relate! Three months I have been thinking I need to get a tea strainer to make this loose leaf tea someone gave me. Then a friend told me he uses a french press to make loose leaf tea and I was like >head smack!<

Ah, well, @prioritymail. That’s more along the lines of innovation, and not as simple (or common) as simply being aware of common appliances and utilities and using them exactly as they’re intended. (Sort of like the first time someone thought of using a windup alarm clock as the trigger for a time bomb. It was a use for the clock that hadn’t been envisioned by the inventor.)

@Ltryptophan, sigh, I had a follow-up response, then blew it away with a keystroke. Not my night. I was just trying to illustrate that the importance of what you need/desire drives how and when you develop solutions to solve/improve perceived needs and desires. The importance of a need and meeting that need is on a different time-line than the importance of a desire and meeting that desire. One may be faster than another, one may be slower. Today your problem solving skills have coalesced into a need/desire needing an improvement. You are here asking the question and reading the answers. That is what people learn to do to solve problems: ask questions and consider the answers. Doing it repeatedly keeps your mind full of the process, which is what mindfulness means. I write these answers with oxforddictionaries.com open in the next window because I feel a need to be accurate in my word usage. Your bathroom clock example may be metaphoric, if you will, the process is still the same.

So you want to more than human? You want to not be subject to human failings and want to not have any of the Doh! moments the rest of us have? Good luck! What makes you so special? :-)

@DaphneT I’m working on it.

I practice.