Today we’re up to week 5 of a 12 week series on the Prosperity Pillars, and the topic is I Focus On Solutions. Many of us need solutions to some major problems that are happening in our life right now.
Zig Ziglar said, “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” That's right! If you can dream it, you can achieve it, especially if you focus on solutions!
Your Perception of Your Problems
So today is all about shifting focus a little bit and we need to start talking about your perception and the way you look at situations. Then we'll circle back around and talk about how to create and focus on solutions.
Your perception of problems is really going to be a roadblock, or a sticking factor in keeping you from creating solutions. You really need to become aware of that because it's not the problem itself, it's the meaning that you attach to the problem.
Let's say you're at a football game. There's always two different teams, there's always two different perspectives. One play could be an unbelievable play for one person and a devastating play for another person. That’s strictly because of the meaning that they've attached to the situation.
So step back for a moment and realize that the meanings you attach to situations are going to dictate where your mind is going to be. And whether or not you're going to be productive at creating solutions!
Your View of Success vs. Failure
Another key point in this idea is how do you view success versus failure? Success versus failure is really important for you to think about. If you're constantly focused on success, and failure is a bad thing to you, then you are 100% wrong.
You need to realize that failure takes you closer to your success. When you begin to perceive failure as a stepping stone to success, then you will not be stopped or held back from creating, acting and moving forward with your life.
Problems Are A Good Thing
Problems can be a good thing when you begin to view them differently. Now you may be thinking, “George, how can problems be a good thing?” Here’s how ...
If we didn't have problems and we didn't have circumstances and we didn't have obstacles and trials … we would never learn to overcome them. We would never grow!
If you don't lift heavy weights, you'll never stress your muscles enough for them to grow. It's that stress and that recovery that is needed in order for you to go to the next level.
Unsuccessful people want their problems to be smaller. Successful people want to be bigger than their problems. What do you want to be in relation to your problems?
Change How You Look At Things
As you start to look back on the tapestry of your life, your perception changes. In the moment, a situation may be completely overwhelming. But as time goes by and you look back on that situation, generally you're going to find that you grew, you learned, and you developed.
So if we can identify that our perception will change or dictate how we view a problem, that's a key step in being more and more successful.
Related: Focus Yourself On Success
Start From Solutions
Now we can move on to how do you now focus on solutions? One of my mentors told me that he always likes to start any conversation from solutions. He always says, “I don't want to deal with the problem. I want to start from solution.” I think that's a great habit to take up!
I know it's hard to find solutions in the moment. We all get overwhelmed and overcome with the difficulty that we're dealing with. But you need to realize something that's really important: you are not your mind, you are not your thoughts.
Train Your Mind
You can train your mind to be able to perceive things a certain way and lead you to solutions. Have you heard of the concept called neuroplasticity? Most people that think that as you get older, it's more and more difficult to create or change habits. Actually, science has proven through neuroplasticity that the pathways in your brain are hard wired based on repetition.
So if you start to train your mind to stop reacting, and start being proactive in looking for solutions, the more often you do that the more that habit will be an ingrained pattern into your mind.
Related – The Daily Mastermind Podcast: I Create Daily Rituals
Listen on iTunes, Listen on Google
Start Focusing On Your Goals
Start that process by finding ways to interrupt that pattern. The #1 way to do that is to focus on your goals. When you have your goals, your dreams, affirmations and desires in front of you on a regular basis ... as a problem comes up, your dreams can be bigger than the obstacles in your life.
Your goal to be bigger than the obstacles in your life
Your Strategy To Focus On Solutions
So to review: begin to look at how you perceive the problems and situations in your life. Then start to focus on the solutions.
The mind that's overcome with all of the obstacles is not the mind that can help you create solutions. It's a mind that's focused on solutions that will take you far in life.
So here’s your strategy to implement this today:
- Find something in your life that is an obstacle or challenge.
- Write down a minimum of 10 possible solutions to that problem.
It might overwhelming to find 10 possible solutions, even if they're crazy ideas. But see what happens with your mind as you start to focus on solutions. You’ll find that simple things will come up that you may say to yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that already?”
You have greatness inside of you. I want you to remember that it's never too late for you to be begin living the life that you were meant to live. So start by focusing on solutions.
Related – The Daily Mastermind Podcast: I Focus On Solutions
Listen on iTunes, Listen on Google
