Key Takeaways
- Most of us, when we encounter a problem, immediately think about the negatives.
- When a problem surfaces, it’s important to think about what can happen, what we can make happen, and who can help us make it happen.
- If you approach a problem from a positive standpoint, you can come up with many possibilities for solutions and get where you want to go.
The movie Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks, depicted the true story of the Apollo 13 mission back in 1970. When everything went wrong on that mission, and they had to figure out how they were going to breathe in a very short period of time, they just got every single thing they had available on the aircraft and they put it all together to make it work. I always look to that example when I’m talking about problems and how to come up with possible solutions.
Many times when we see a problem, we immediately go to the negative. We say, “Oh, that problem can’t be resolved.” I have found that most problems can actually become great opportunities. There are always many possibilities to problems out there. It’s important to think when a problem surfaces, about what can happen, what we can make happen, and who can help us make it happen.
This country is known for its ingenuity and high level of entrepreneurship, you can see it everywhere. It’s kind of a reminder to ourselves that when we encounter a problem, we look at how to approach it, and try to figure out where to go for the possibilities out there to solve it. Often the answer is not what you think it would be.
When I was in the military, there was a time when we didn’t know where we were; otherwise known as lost! We asked this private, and he said, “Climb a tree.” So, we had someone climb a tree, look out over the land, and we figured out where we were. It was such a simple solution, yet here were a bunch of us looking at it from a negative perspective, and not thinking about all the possible ways to solve the problem.
You can solve pretty much any problem, be it as simple as trying to figure out where you are, to figuring out how you are going to safely land back on Earth. If you approach your problem from a positive standpoint, looking at it in terms of what can be done versus what can’t, you can usually come up with a solution that’s going to get you where you want to go.
Until next time, enjoy.
