Transform Problems into Opportunities
Transform Problems into Opportunities
by Andrew Hewitt
Contributing Editor, Trump University
Picture this—you’re a freestyle aerialist in the Torino Olympic games. Your ski goggles are suctioned to your face, your spandex suit is feeling comfortable for the first time all year, and you’re ready to get some serious air. You are ready to show the world what four years of training can produce. You hit the ski jump at a blazing speed and are instantly launched 70 feet in the air. As you reach your maximum height you realize you have a major problem: your skis have detached from your boots and are continuing to head skyward as if powered by their own rockets.
Approximately four seconds remain before you meet face-to-face with the icy hard-packed base 70 feet below. Plastic boots and a spandex suit are all you have to cushion your fall. Great. What do you do? What would a winner do?
Jeff Bean of the Canadian Olympic Aerials team faced this very situation just a couple weeks ago. If you caught this stunning event, you would have witnessed a winner in action. Rather than lose his cool, flailing in the wind or plummeting to the icy ground below, the ski-less Jeff Bean had the mental power to continue into a full routine—triple twist, back flip assault with a 360 helicopter twirl—land on his feet and make his best effort to slide gracefully without skis to the bottom of the hill.
Having your skis detach from your boots midway through an Olympic event is something most of us would see as a problem—perhaps a catastrophe—but to Jeff Bean it was simply another opportunity to prove himself.
How is it that some people, in a split second, can transform immense problems into life changing opportunities? What do these people possess that others don’t?
Take a lesson from former New York City mayor and American hero, Rudy Giuliani. On season two of The Apprentice Mayor Giuliani shared powerful words of wisdom with team Mosaic on what helped him most in responding to 9/11.
He attributed his approach to his long-time role model Sir Winston Churchill. Although Churchill faced several challenges throughout his rise to become Britain’s Prime Minister, he always focused on the solutions to the problems rather than dwelling on the problems themselves. It was Churchill’s approach to problem-solving, to be solution-focused, that inspired Giuliani as mayor of New York City, and as a beacon of hope in the wake of 9/11.
Being able to quickly transform problems into opportunities isn’t a skill reserved for mentally tough Olympians or heroic leaders. It is a skill we are all capable of achieving. It is a skill that forms through habit and later crystallizes into a permanent mindset—the solution-focused mindset.
When my co-authors and I were researching the book The Power of Focus for College Students we found that the ability to be solution-focused was a fundamental determinant of student success. With a whirlwind of assignments, exams, and social pressures to face each week, it is no surprise that the students who get the best grades, land the best jobs, and become magnets for opportunity are the students who overcome the challenges of their environment. These are the students who have honed the solution-focused mindset.
Think of a problem you recently faced. What was your first reaction? Did you dwell on the problem or did you instantly seek a solution? Your first reaction to a problem is an indication of your current mindset.
The solution-focused mindset gives us the lens we need to see opportunities within the problem. Rather than holding us back, problems become the catalyst for growth and change. They indicate when we are heading in the wrong direction, steer us back on course, help us strengthen our character, identify areas we need to develop, ensure that we fully appreciate our successes, and give us the opportunity to prove ourselves to the world.
Problems are only problems when you allow them to be. Focus on the solution to problems—make it your mindset—and give yourself the winner’s edge.
