How I learnt more about problem solving thanks to assembling flat pack furniture

Recently, me and my wife been assembling flat pack furniture in our new home. A lot of flat pack furniture (I’ve created quite the collection of Allen keys). We've had so much cardboard that we've had to use a bin that's at a nearby supermarket that allows people to recycle cardboard and mixed paper.

And during the fun process of unpacking and then assembling furniture, I actually learnt a few important lessons in regards to problem solving.

Patience is part of problem solving

I have a lot of patience when it comes to most things. But assembling furniture however, taught me that having patience is part of the process in understanding something. I ended up spending a lot of time reading the instructions of the funiture before I start building it.

It might sound odd, but trust me on this.

It takes patience to understand what you need to do and how to do it.

I bought a set of two matching bedside tables (both look great by the way), and once I had an understanding of what I was doing, assembling them was pretty simple! In fact, I probably spent less time building the second one than I did on the first one, as I was familiar on how to build the bed side table.

Take a break (and then come back to it)

The biggest lesson came from one flat pack which was a bench for a dining table. Early in the instructions, we had to attach a stretcher to a right and left leg. Seems simple enough. But the instructions however told us to screw into the wood on the bench leg from the stretcher.

That didn’t seem right to me. But after checking the instructions, that really was what needed to be done.

But after several attempts, it wasn’t working. The screw wasn’t going into the wooden leg properly. The attached leg and stretcher was loose and wasn’t stable.

No way would that be safe to sit on.

After spending thirty to forty minutes, me and my wife agreed to take a lunch break.

During the lunch break, I was able to think and recharge. And that moment of being away from it provided me with a brain wave.

And when I got back, I had the complete bench assembled in no time. I had the idea of assembling the furniture on the floor instead of a box of another flat pack, and that made all the difference.

I guess being away from the problem provided me with an opportunity to think about the problem clearly.

Get a second opinion

There were a few times when I needed to check if I was doing something correctly. And on a few times, I needed that second opinion from my wife. I could've made some terrible mistakes!

When we were building a TV stand, I wasn't too sure which way the partially constructed furniture should be facing. Was it with the wood facing towards me or away from me? The instructions weren't the best quality as the paper was slightly faded.

But after discussing the instructions with my wife, we were able to understand what was needed to be done. For those wondering, it was with the wood facing towards me.

I've honestly learnt that sometimes it's better to get a second opionion, you never knew what you might have missed.

Team work!

Some things need more than one person, and that's what I found on a few flat packs. I did try and attempt it by myself but I quickly found that I needed some help. And sometimes, when you get help, the problem that you're working on could be solved faster. Plus, you can learn some new skills along the way.

It also helps to take note of the instructions, especially when the instructions state that two people are needed to assemble the furniture.

Conclusion

And those are the lessons that I've learnt so far from assembling flat pack furniture.

I'm not sure what the moral of this blog post is, maybe buy and assemble more flat packs to learn a lesson in problem solving? Maybe!

I’m pretty sure that after this move, I am never going to want to go through another flat pack ever again.

Well, until the next move.