The 5 Rules of Becoming a Problem-Solver

Problem solvers are women and men who tend to succeed.  The ability to immediately start looking for solutions to problems, where others just focus on the problems themselves, lets people get ahead in almost every field, from corporate finance to art, from community leadership to raising children.

Rule 1: Shift focus from problems to solutions

This is where it all begins, and it’s a process of training the mind.  The human brain is a very complicated network of neural pathways, and the more we use a particular pathway (say, the tendency to focus on problems) the stronger it becomes and the more naturally we use the same pathway again.

To change the pathways in your brain, and to have a new relationship to challenges, takes practice.  So we begin by deciding how we want to respond to problems.  Do we want to be the kind of person who hits a roadblock, sighs and focuses on how hard things have become?  That’s called being a victim and it cripples many people’s ability to succeed before they even begin.  Instead, we can choose to be the kind of person who, when we encounter a problem, immediately start looking for solutions.  It becomes habit.  Eventually we break the habit of problem-focusing entirely: we meet a problem, examine it without emotion, and we begin creatively problem-solving straight away.

So begin today: decide that you are, as of now, a problem-solver.  Each time you meet a roadblock in your life, say quietly in your head “I am a problem-solver, I can find brilliant solutions to any problem”.  Then choose to sidestep any temptation to fixate on the problem itself, and get to work on the solution.  It’ll feel uncomfortable or weird to start with: that’s the old pathways in your brain trying to take over.  But as you practice, use the mantra, and go straight to solving the problem, so your brain will adapt and it’ll feel easier and more natural.

Rule 2: Know the results you want

The reason we become solution-focused people is because we want to succeed in some way.  We want to be a great employee, or leader, or parent...or we just want to be happy.

So behind every great problem-solver is a vision of how their life could be.  A dream, or a picture, or a story of their life that will include the things they want.  Adventures?  Peace and quiet?  Wealth?  Spiritual fulfillment?  Time for yourself?  Romance?  Great sex?  Happy children?  Whatever you want, you need to build a story or vision of how your life will be in the future, and you put those things you want into that vision.

Once you’ve got that, you begin to align every solution to every problem in your life so that it brings you one step closer to your ideal life.

These things are the results you want.  The things that bring life it’s value and worth.  Being a problem-solver is being results-focused: you’ll do whatever it takes to get the results you want.  If you stay focused on those things, and if you solve your life-problems so that each resolution is part of your vision, you’ll become much more effective and your solutions will be more powerful and meaningful for you.

Rule 3: Be flexible about methods, not outcomes

Effective problem-solvers are creative and adaptable...in some ways.  In other ways they’re obstinate and won’t budge an inch.  Knowing when to do each is the key.

Each time you meet a new problem, consider the ways you can solve it.  Will the same method you’ve always used do, or is there a better way?  Do you need to learn a new skill or start practicing a new technique?  Does somebody you know do this better from you, and have you failed to learn from them?

Remember: you’re results-focused.  You do whatever it takes to solve your problems.  So use the most effective solution to your problem, not just the one you know the best.

But the stuff you don’t shift on is your vision.  It’s like you’ve got a map and you’re walking to your chosen destination.  If you find a path is blocked, or if you find out that there’s a quicker, simpler way: use it!  But don’t change where you’re headed.  You picked your destination because it’ll bring you the results you want.  Stay focused.

Rule 4: Use every resource you can

A lot of people aren’t problem-solvers, so they’ll give you a lot of bad advice.  They’ll tell you all sorts of rubbish.  They might tell you to give up on your dream, that it’s stupid or ridiculous or impossible...but we know that’s the wrong approach.  They might tell you that you have to go it alone, that nobody can help you.  They tend to laugh at the idea of asking for help, because they’re afraid to do it themselves.

Don’t be those people.  You’re a problem-solver, on a path to your own personal success story.

Think again about that example of following a map to your destination.  If, along the way, you see other people driving or cycling, and they’re succeeding where you’re not...learn from them.  Try their methods.  They might work for you, they might not.  But we really need to be willing to swallow pride for this process.

Learn from experts.  Hit YouTube and watch some tutorials.  Go to TED, or websites or blogs specific to your area or industry.  Go to conferences, meet your heroes, read every book you can that inspires and educates you.  Hire a life coach to keep you focused, to point out your weak areas and help you compensate for them, to be the guide and wingman you need.

Don’t rule anything out: if it’s a resource you can use, a way you can boost your effectiveness, a skill you can learn or an expert who can teach you...use them.

As Anthony Robbins says: as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody, do whatever it takes to achieve the results you want..

Rule 5: Stay grateful

This one often gets forgotten in the rush to solve problems, improve and succeed.

Your vision for your future is made up of all the things you most deeply long for in your life.  They are the specific things that give life meaning and richness...the specific things that fire up your ambition and drive you to excel.

But there will be parts of your life that don’t contain those things.  In between the things we long for and work for, are all those unnoticed things that give life a more general happiness.  Health.  Friendships.  A favourite place we go.  Nature.  Breath.  Few people make these things their specific life-goal, but they’re important and worth noticing and appreciating...because noticing and appreciating things like this makes the whole of life feel more fulfilling and joyful.

In real-time, amid the rush of our daily lives, there is a technique for quickly and effectively accessing this daily richness: it’s called gratitude.  To be grateful is to bring our attention to the things we have received from our lives, which give us so much, and often go unnoticed.  Perhaps you can voice this, and thank some people or places for their contributions to your life.  But more importantly, we carry gratitude in our minds, and give thanks for things throughout the day.  This is another important practice for those who want to be truly effective problem-solvers.

Because if we focus only on the results we want for the future, we miss the now, and that’s probably the most commonly regretted thing when people look back on their lives.

So train your mind to look for solutions, use every resource at your disposal, stay focused on the things that you want most, and stay grateful for all those little things that happen on good days and bad.