This blog post features yet another excerpt of a special report called “Ten Traps Leaders Unwittingly Set for Themselves ~ and How to Avoid Them” (valued at $47) that I am giving away to anyone who is willing to take the time to complete a brief survey to help me determine people’s most significant leadership challenges. To get your free report, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=saAAJEMZHUw6ptu39axnsw_3d_3d
In appreciation of your participation, I’ll also send you a free audio briefing on The Seven Secrets of Extraordinary Leaders ($47 value). As a bonus, you’ll also receive and a one year subscription to Synchronistically Speaking ($197 value) which features an executive briefing on a different leadership challenge each month.
Like attracts like. This is one of the basic laws of physics, and it has become much more commonly referred to in the last few years. Other ways of saying this are you get what you focus on, or whatever you focus on will expand.
When we become aware of a condition that we wish to improve, whether that be our state of mind, a person’s behavior, or a state of affairs, we must be very careful that we do not overly identify with the problem versus the solution. It is one thing to be dissatisfied with a current state and quite another to immerse yourself in it.
Albert Einstein said “problems cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness with which they were created.” We must see these problems with new eyes – eyes that see through limitation to the real potential of the people involved and the situation at hand. It is only when we recognize and identify with our ability to transcend any given challenge that we will have the answers we need to actually rise above it. Until then, our actions will have the same effect as rearranging chairs on the Titanic.
There is always more to things than meet they eye. Problems often bring new opportunities, new ways of looking at things. And people will show you different sides of themselves depending on how you are viewing them. You can bring out the best or the worst in people or situations by the very way you take them in and process them. You can complain about the current state of affairs, feel sorry for yourself or your organization, or get lost in analysis that documents and legitimizes the problem. Or you could make a simple shift that allows you to rise above all of this and see things from a different plane.
Problems will always introduce an element of frustration. We can choose to amplify that frustration (which ends up actually creating new problems), or we can move our focus from a problem orientation to a solution orientation. A solution orientation looks at the problem from the other side. Though you may not know what the exact steps are to get there yet, you can identify with the state of having solved it – with the ingenuity and satisfaction of having risen above it. You can relax and allow your mind to access greater creativity without the panic or other anxiety associated with fear that the problem will never get resolved. And in that state of being, the solution will come to you in ways you may not have expected.
The next time you endeavor to address a problem, take some time to get very clear on the state you wish to experience that will be associated with the solution. See if you can feel the rush of satisfaction and relief that the solution will bring. Look at the problem from the eyes of someone who just solved it and allow yourself to access wisdom that a problem orientation would block you from. Ask some empowering questions such as “what am I not seeing that would help me to rise above this challenge?” or “how can I leverage the resources at my disposal to creatively and innovatively solve this problem?”
As you endeavor to approach your challenges and opportunities in this manner, you will show others how to do the same. As a leader, you have the unique opportunity to create an entire culture that looks at challenges in a new way.
What can you do right now to set that in motion?
Unleash the Extraordinary!
Diane Bolden
© blog posts copyright 2007 Diane Bolden. All rights reserved.
Digg This 
Del.icio.us