Irrelevant Information

While we studied chapter 8 and problem solving, we also studied different barriers to problem solving. One of my main problems in problem solving is getting bogged down in irrelevant information, along with others. This used to be the case with word problems, especially in high school math classes. Math was always my easiest subject, but whenever I had to do word problems I wasn't happy. Many times this would be because the problem would give out a lot of irrelevant information that I thought needed to be used. Because of this I would be able to solve the problem, but I would think it was wrong because I thought other pieces of information needed to be used or it wasn't correct. This also happens in many other areas of life as well. Every decision one must make or problem one must solve involves looking at relevant information around that problem or decision. A particular skill one needs to make a "good" decision or to solve a problem is to weed out the irrelevant information. As I have grown I have personally been able to improve on this subject and not have to worry about certain facts or numbers that have no meaning in solving a specific problem.