Viewing Problems from a Different Perspective

The truth is that every business owner (or anyone who is involved in a business from any angle) encounters problems that need to be solved. The issue is not whether you are faced with problems. The issue is what you do with that problem and how you turn it into an advantage for you and for your business.

Viewing a problem from a different perspective can turn the problem into a wonderful advantage

Whether the problem that you are encountering is a “people” problem or some other problem that you need to take care of, you need to make sure that at the end of the day, you learn from the experience and have acquired more useful knowledge that you can apply to your business going forward. In short, you need to make the best of all of your experiences, both positive and negative.

The fact is that you have probably learned the most from your negative experiences. Positive experiences feel great and they help your business to progress in a healthy way. When it comes to learning from those experiences, you will be much more inclined to remember the negative experiences in detail. Perhaps it is because there are negative emotions attached to that experience. As you look back on a negative experience, if you can somehow manage to recognize how it improved your outlook, you will have won. 

Why do negative experiences stick with you?

The chances are really good that after you have had a negative experience, you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try to do better (or different). That means that you have already started to grow because of that experience.

As human beings and as business people, the one thing that you cannot do is stagnate and not grow and learn on a consistent basis. If you were to stay exactly where you were in the beginning, your business would not survive and you will not accomplish what you set out to do. That is just not an option. It is very important that you recognize that you can’t learn all on your own. You need to interact with other people to grow and learn. Those other people will have different opinions from yours and they will have a different perspective from yours (in many cases). It is essential that you keep an open mind and embrace all that other people can and will teach you. You will be much richer for it. 

So, to answer the question about why negative experiences stick with you, it is because your reaction to the experience was emotional (just like all other human beings) but then your ability to reason took over and you recognized that you have become better for it after having that negative experience.

Turning a problem into an opportunity

As a business person, you have no choice but to deal with problems as they arise. However, your thinking should be clear. If there is any way that you can find an opportunity in that problem, you need to grab it. In order to do that successfully, you will need to think differently than you are used to thinking. Don’t take everything literally. Instead, peel back the layers and find the gem that sits in the center. That is the gem that is going to make you a better person and a more effective professional.

If you are faced with a problem that you can control (to whatever extent), you can definitely turn it into an opportunity. Of course, if you are faced with a problem that doesn’t allow you any control over the situation, there is still a solution but you should probably spend your energy on solving the problem and recognizing that you may not gain an opportunity in the process. Instead, you should focus your energy on those problems that can be controlled to some extent.

Conclusion

The world is far from black and white. There are many shades of gray and you need to understand that very little is carved in stone (or insurmountable). There are many possible ways that you can take a situation that seems dire and turn it around to your advantage. You should think positively but not unrealistically. Always be aware of what you have in front of you but do not dismiss any possibilities or opportunities to learn and grow from the experience and allow those opportunities to positively affect your business.

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