Taking action

The quickest way to turn a problem into an opportunity is to do something about it. Even if, at the outset, you cannot imagine how your problem could ever be reframed into an opportunity, take action. Start working on the problem and many opportunities will become evident.

Simply complaining or throwing up your hands in despair will not bring the opportunities forth. Jumping in and taking action will put you in intimate contact with the situation, and from that vantage point you’ll discover many positive possibilities.

At the very least, every problem can be a positive learning experience when you commit to take action and deal with the problem. Problem-solving can also build your skills, your contacts with other people, your knowledge in a particular area of expertise, and your experience at getting things done.

Taking positive action significantly changes the nature of the problem in your own mind. When you’re doing something about it, the problem, once something which happened to you outside of your control, becomes something for which you are now calling the shots. That change in attitude will reveal many positive possibilities for completely transforming the problem into an opportunity.

Life is full of problems that can be turned into opportunities. That positive transformation requires that you recognize and clearly understand the problem, look at it from a number of different perspectives, draw motivation and energy from it, and commit to taking positive action.

The next time you’re faced with a problem, make an effort to find the opportunity it represents. The opportunities are definitely there, waiting for you to take up the challenge.