How to Turn Problems into Opportunities
Get easy tips on how to overcome obstacles by finding the hidden opportunities beneath your problems.
One of the most insidious, unproductive, icky ways we use time is complaining about our problems—especially when we should be thinking about them as new opportunities.
Bernice and Melvin have finally made it official: they are dating. They brought pictures. They went on a date to a water park. There they stood, wet clothes clinging to their moistened bodies … it was like some horrible Creature From the Deep episode … waiting in line for their next ride. It was a long line.
The Difference Between Problems and Opportunities
Melvin said “Long line. Ick.” He sulked and withdrew. Bernice said “We get to meet people! The Goddess will guide us!” and sure enough, they met people, made new friends, and even got some great tips on how Bernice could use her Goddess energy to rebalance her chakras.
Was the long line a problem? Nope. A problem is just a problem because we think of it that way. Stuff happens. If we don’t like the stuff, we label it a problem and try to jam the world back into the way it was going before. If we do like the stuff, we label it an opportunity and try to take advantage of it. The difference between a problem and an opportunity is what we do with it, not what it is to begin with.
How to Turn Problems into Opportunities
Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Write “problems” in the left-hand column. Write “opportunities” in the right. List your problems down the left. Now comes the fun part. Go down the right column and write down how each problem could be some kind of opportunity.
How to Find the Opportunity: What New Abilities Does It Bring?
This takes some thought. It’s not always obvious how, “Facial features destroyed by exploding car battery” can be turned into an opportunity. You really need to sit with it to realize that having no face is a fantastic advantage for a spy trying to infiltrate an enemy country. You can be anyone. All it takes is an eyebrow pencil and a quick trip to the Halloween mask store. If the recently arrested Russian spies had had no face, would they have been arrested? Of course not! Facial recognition software doesn’t work if you don’t have a face. State Department, here you come.
That’s one way of finding the opportunity: ask yourself what new capabilities your problem gives you. If the problem is that your car broke down, it gives you the ability to sell car parts on eBay. It also gives you the chance to learn to use public transportation, which could give you a lot of time to read and relax while you travel. Though you may or may not want this capability, your problem does give it to you.
Use a New Opportunity to Eliminate Old Behaviors
Your opportunity may lie not in new capabilities, but in the chance to eliminate old behaviors. If your problem is a dead car, you’re saved from having to keep the tank full, having to take it in for regular maintenance, and having to explain to your friends why going “Vrrruuum” when you start your Toyota Corolla really does make it seem like a Porsche 911 Turbo-S. To you. Only to you.
New Opportunities Give You Excuses to Make Changes
Sometimes a problem gives you excuses. When your leg gets torn off in a unfortunate rice picking accident, you can no longer be expected to take out the trash. “I have no legs” is really hard to argue with. Then you can hire housecleaners and spend your time finally writing that book you always wanted to write. (Just don’t call it Get-it-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More. That’s my book, coming from St. Martin’s Press in September 2010. Order it now!) If your house burns down and you’re well insured, at last you have an excuse to build your dream home… as long as you were insured with replacement value insurance.
A friend of mine was diagnosed with AIDS. He used that as an excuse to quit his job and start doing things he loves. It’s about ten years later. He’s still in great spirits, and has spent the last ten years doing all the things in life he never previously let himself do–and finding ways to get paid for them at the same time. As bad as his problem was, it gave him the push to revolutionize his life.
New Opportunities Lead You to New People and Places
Often, problems bring you to new communities and causes. Hair loss problems? You can join a hair loss support group. You and your new friends will have lots to talk about. Just not hair.
Some people turn problems into activism. My friend Carl was frustrated with the policies his local congressman was voting for in his district. With no prior political experience, he ran for office and won. Now he’s a full-time state senator. His problem led to a whole new career!
Turn a Problem into a New Career Opportunity
If your problem is one you think others may share, you can think about solving it for everyone, and it could turn into a huge opportunity. That is how many entrepreneurs get started. Scott Cook was frustrated with the poor quality of software designed to help him balance his checkbook. He decided to start a software company to fix the problem. His company Intuit is now a multi-billion-dollar success story.
Sometimes the Opportunity is Surrender
The opportunity a problem can bring is surrendering to the inevitable. I did the Get-it-Done Guy episode on not giving up your dreams because I’d been bitten by the musical theater bug but never had the courage to follow it. I visited New York, met several actors, producers, and directors, and realized the competition would be brutal. The dancing alone would be a challenge (ask me to tell you the story about the bone saw someday when we have more time).
Dancing, a challenge? I love a challenge! I hired an acting coach to help me prepare audition monologues. At our first meeting, she explained that pretty much no one, no matter how talented, actually makes a living at acting, so I should get that notion out of my head immediately. FREEDOM! Once I discarded the idea that this had to be a career, the possibilities for musical theater as a hobby opened up. Stay tuned for the Get-it-Done Guy one-man musical. And no, I’m not joking. Sometimes surrendering to the inevitable leads to the very thing you thought was impossible.
Now it’s time for me to turn a problem into an opportunity. The problem: I’m staring at a picture of Bernice and Melvin in wet, clinging clothes, at a water park. There must be an opportunity here. Somewhere.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
RESOURCES:
- Episode on deciding when to give up on a dream.
- /productivity/organization/time-to-give-up-your-dreams
Turning obstacles into opportunities, sample worksheet – Stever Robbins Get it Done Guy 141 Overcoming Obstacles
SAMPLE EXAMPLE:
| Country | |
|---|---|
|
Problem |
Opportunity |
|
I look younger than my age and geeky enough that no one takes me seriously. |
Craft my image around fun, humor, and a younger generation. |
|
People don’t take me seriously when they first meet me. |
Develop public speaking skills so they have no choice but to sit and listen to my ideas long enough to realize that if they close their eyes, I’m worth taking seriously. |
|
I have way too much writing to do every week and it’s driving me bonkers. |
I retain rights to most of the writing, so it can form the basis for another book, or a series of white papers, or an animated series starring Nicholas Cage as the pile of stationery. |
|
I haven’t yet recorded my episode this week. |
Get back on a wake-up-at-6:30-am schedule and record before my workout. |
Opportunity image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the podcast Get-it-Done Guy from 2007 to 2019. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Computer Sciences from MIT.
