Smile. You're Just About to Lose Your Shirt!

To view problems as outside forces working against our objectives hinders creativity in problem solving. Let's look at problems, obstacles and even calamity through a cleaner lens.

Savor these words from two great thinkers:

"Let a person rejoice when he is confronted with obstacles, for it means that he has reached the end of some particular line of indifference or folly, and is now called upon to summon up all his energy and intelligence in order to extricate himself, and to find a better way; that the powers within him are crying out for greater freedom, for enlarged exercise and scope." -James Allen

"It is the Law that any difficulties that can come to you at any time, no matter what they are, must be exactly what you need most at the moment, to enable you to take the next step forward by overcoming them. The only real misfortune, the only real tragedy, comes when we suffer without learning the lesson." -Emmet Fox

I am fortunate to have discovered these ideas written in such English that I aspire to someday command. Better today that I allow those celebrated authors to assist me with this article.

Listen to the chatter and gossip around you. Hear how many coworkers, friends, associates, and casual acquaintances talk of problems in their lives, their jobs, the country and the "system." Most people have the habit of finding blame somewhere out there. They often revel in righteous indignation of the real culprits - bosses, co-workers, politicians, "big oil," you name it.

I plead guilty to the blame game although I usually recognize when I'm a player and try to fetch myself up sharply to refocus on my role in finding solutions. I'll never achieve perfection, but progress is what I'm really after.

Having heartfelt gratitude for what I already possess is an ideal basis for positive problem solving in my business and personal life.

Here's a bitter pill from one of the great business philosophers of our time, Jim Rohn: "If you spend five minutes complaining, you've just wasted five minutes. If you continue complaining, it won't be long before they haul you off to a financial desert and there leave you to choke on the dust of your own regret." I once recited this quote in a sales meeting. My boss immediately blurted out, "I hate Jim Rohn!" I believe he meant it.

I moved on from that company and today I try hard to avoid whining and complaining in any business setting. One fruitful result is that meetings are shorter and much more productive.

I'm sure that many of you reading this article have sat in meetings that run overtime because of irrelevant minutia focused on this client or that manager or her department, or his habits..., ad infinitum. After these meetings you ask yourself, what did we accomplish?

Unpleasant and unexpected events very often occur outside of our control. Simply stated, "Excrement happens!" Endeavor to view your obstacles with objectivity and emotional balance. Embrace your struggles and take full responsibility for your role in the solutions. Then witness how the necessary and restorative hard work seems to flow naturally from such an attitude. Your business then grows as the result of that hard work.

I am convinced that little growth is possible without daily discipline in forming and keeping a positive mental attitude. This automatically fosters better work habits.

Sometimes, fortunately or unfortunately, a massive problem must be placed directly in front of us; that we are forced to grow beyond our present means by finding a way over it, around it, under it, or straight through it, smashing the problem to little pieces, thereby clearing a thoroughfare to higher profits.

Having been fortified by the experience of transmuting obstacles into opportunities for needed change, we are freed to see the next challenge as exactly what we need to grow forward.

Chuck Sink is the vice president of marketing for Big Hit Media LLC, a website design, online marketing and multimedia production company located in New Hampshire. Visit www.bighitmedia.com or email chuck@bighitmedia.com