Tackling Big Problems Using Divide and Conquer
One of my personal fitness goals for September 2024 was to complete a 10 km run every week. After my first attempt at running 10 km continuously, I realized it would be tough to maintain this weekly goal because it was quite challenging. During that run, I took 1 hour and 22 minutes to finish.
To make it more manageable, I decided to break the distance into three runs over three days each week: two 3 km runs and one 4 km run at the end of the week. After completing another 10 km tally for the week today, I realized that not only was I achieving my goal, but I was also saving up to 20 minutes in total running time.
By breaking it up, I spend less time running and recovering from exhaustion, while also enjoying three doses of the dopamine boost instead of just one.
Reflecting on it today I realized that I have been using the “divide and conquer” strategy. “Divide and Conquer” is a strategy used in problem-solving and learning, where a large problem is broken down into smaller, more manageable sub-problems. The name is derived from the divide-and-conquer algorithm in computer science.
Dividing my 10km run into 3 parts spread out over 3 different days of the week means that I could spend less amount of time running at a go which makes it far less dreadful and less challenging. If I wake up and remember that it is my running day, I know that in 20 minutes I will be back home, so I have no problem stepping out.
This is the power of divide and conquer and you can apply it in any aspect of your life. By breaking apart a big problem into smaller chunks and tackling these smaller pieces individually, it becomes easier to solve the overall issue. It is very effective in dealing with complex algorithms, designing a complex product/service, managing a large project, dealing with a backlog of work, and as you can see, it works for personal goals too.
So, if you encounter a daunting problem and don’t know where to start, try breaking it apart and tackle it piece by piece.