How Do You Handle Difficult Situations?
Sometimes we need to look at problems like children do.
"There's only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." - Paulo Coehlo
If you are a business owner or in a position of leadership, you have had that one particular moment where it felt like you are on a battlefield.
Maybe you were bidding on a huge contract against some experienced players. Or you were competing for that board position, or you miscalculated on a project and now you have to rescue yourself from the big dogs in the boardroom.
Image by Wix
Whatever the challenge, you probably had a couple of sleepless nights over it.
My 11-yr old son came to me the other day with a solution to the world's energy problem.
He showed me a picture of the Sahara desert and pointed to a very small zoomed-in section of it and said;
"Mommy, did you know that if they put solar panels in this little section of the Sahara desert everyone in the world would have electricity?
Me: "Oh really, how so?"
Son: "This little section is only the size of New Mexico."
Me: "Oh? How many solar panels would they need to put there?"
Son: "Only about 51.4 billion."
Me: "Interesting. I hope someone takes up that project, that would help a lot of people in the world."
Son: "Yeah and we would stop having power cuts."
For him, the solution is that simple. Oh, and thanks to YouTube classroom he's always looking up intriguing stuff!
For the conglomerate of governments or companies that might try to take on a project that size, it means decades of R&D, planning, initiation, sampling, execution, and closing.
What if we looked at our major problems in the same way children do? That to every problem there's a simple solution.
The same way my same child looks at a mini cooper and thinks he can drive it without any driving lessons and without any challenges.
As adults, our experiences hold us back because we have failed many times before and we are now ever so careful which risk we want to embrace.
For children, like my 10-yr old, there's so much to explore in life and all problems are solvable in a flash. Thanks to batman and ironman the world's porblem's have a simplified version.
But I like that simplified world. It is emotionally freeing. As much as the brain tries to keep us safe from taking major risks or handling difficult situations, the same brain holds us back from exploring the world courageously. We are entramped with fear when faced with difficult situations.
Before we stress over circumstances, sometimes we only need to take a step back and look at that difficult person as just another human being with fears and failures of their own. Or that upcoming complex project as an adventure to explore the possibilities. Or that promotion as one opportunity amidst thousands out there that haven't found us yet.
I have come across many people who stress over the littlest of problems. And in all sincerity sometimes I just want to say "enough already it ain't that big of a deal." This is where I allow myself to hold back because I know that everyone has their own journey in learning to manage difficult emotions. After all, it ain't that big of a deal that they make a big deal out of a small deal. It's all good!
If you would like to learn how to manage difficult situations or be able to deal with difficult people, while creating joy in your life, DM me here for my one-to-one specialized coaching program.
Or if you would like to learn how to develop better self control, create greater awareness of self, and to give greater attention to what really matters in the world around you then check out my mindfulness course here.