Problem-focused verses Solution-focused Thinking

The other night I was having a phone conversation with my mother and something frustrating but interesting occurred. My life is taking some pretty exciting turns and I’ve got a bunch of really good stuff coming together for this summer. I had been having a pretty productive day as far as business development, writing, and household odds and ends were concerned. All day I’d been working on that stuff and feeling generally pretty motivated.

However, once I started talking to my mother I made a couple of minor gripes about some scheduling that I have to deal with and before you know it I was in full-blown rant mode about all of the issues associated with the upcoming summer. I was literally complaining about the very stuff that I had been excited about just minutes before! The chain of complaints, bitching, and negativity continued for most of the phone call and then it was honestly another twenty minutes afterward before I was able to turn my head around and get back to being useful.

The problem certainly wasn’t my mother; she’s pretty positive. The problem was with my mode of thinking. You see, once I started thinking about the problems associated with some of the situations I’m in I became focused on problem-based thinking. Once that happens, all you can focus on is the problems with a situation. That doesn’t do you any good. Dwelling on and bitching about your problems does nothing more than waste time and help you find new problems that you probably didn’t even know existed and didn’t matter in the first place.

Unfortunately, this is where most people spend their life. They sit around and focus on what’s not going right in their personal, financial, or fitness life. They’ve got way too much on their plate at work. Their kid is a pain in the ass. They haven’t received a raise in three years. The economy is bad. They only have a vending machine full of unhealthy food at work. Their gym is on the other side of town. You get the point.

To make matters worse, this type of thinking is contagious. There’s nothing that problem-focused people love more than getting someone to agree with or start thinking like they do. That gives them someone to focus on the problem and bitch with! If you spend a lot of time around problem-focused people (and don’t forget that most people are) you soon will find your desire, focus, and productivity washing right down the drain.

To combat this problem-focused thinking it is key to promote solution-focused thinking. Sure, there are always problems. You need to be able to identify them, which is usually not a big challenge. However, rather than dwelling on whatever problem faces you, once you’ve identified the problem or challenge it is imperative to become solution-focused and drive your thought process towards how to fix the problem. This simple mind-shift will do amazing things for your productivity and success.

This isn’t some sort of pie-eyed “power of positive thinking” line of bullshit. I don’t care if you like or don’t like or if you feel positive at all about what you’re doing. You are simply thinking about how to successfully overcome a situation by focusing on a solution or improvement to make it happen. Is your lawn flooded? Well, then perhaps a drainage ditch is the solution to your problem. Do you like to or want to dig this ditch on a nice Saturday afternoon when you could be at the beach or watching a Spring baseball game? Hell no! Do you have a problem that needs solving and the technology (shovel and back) to make it happen? Yep. So get it done.

Sometimes this is easier said than done, of course. My above drainage ditch example is pretty cut and dried and we all know that life can get a lot more complex. I recently picked up a great idea for turning around your thought process from Jason Selk, author of 10 Minute Toughness. You should all read this book, if you haven’t, as a side note. Rather than just trying to focus on a solution when faced with a complex problem all at once it is far easier to apply “small steps” thinking to it.

When you find yourself in the middle of problem-based thinking Selk recommends stopping, taking a deep clarifying breath (he has a method and scheme for this, but just go with a very long, slow breath), and asking yourself “what is one thing I can do to make this better?”. Even if that one thing isn’t much, there’s pretty much always one little thing you can do to improve your situation. Once you’ve done the one thing you can do to improve your situation, repeat the process and look for the next thing. Before you know it you’re well on your way to solving your problem.

I know, you’re reading that and thinking “that’s it? That’s the answer to my problems?”. No, the answer to your problems is stopping the focus on your problems and then actually focusing on the solution. When you boil life down it doesn’t have to be all that complex, and usually the simplest answers are the best ones. Taking small, consistent, and constructive steps forward will always be better than sitting around, dwelling on a problem, and waiting for some sort of magical inspiration.

Interested in finding solutions and developing a strength lifestyle? Grab my FREE ebook 7 Secrets of Strength and Health on the right!