Let’s face it. We all have problems, problems that we would really like to find a solution to. But, for many of us, we either take too long to get through our problems, or we never really get through our problems and live a life of resignation.
I hope that this blog post can help you with a problem that you are facing.
An article I recently read (15 Typical Life Problems) may contain a problem you are either working through or dealing with. The problems listed include:
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You didn’t reach your goal
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Someone criticized you
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Your career got messed up
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You have financial troubles
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You are unhealthy
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A relationship ended
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You feel like you can’t go on
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Your friends are screwing up your life
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You feel stressed
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Fear is standing in your way
But others could include a bad boss or having difficult employees.
Why is it that we are not more successful or effective at dealing with our problems?
I believe the answer lies in a quote that I recently read from Deepak Chopra, which I paraphrase: The level of solution is never at the same level of the problem.
I think our common, even natural, approach to addressing the problems in our lives is to try to address the problem at the level of the problem.
For example, in organizations, if they have a problem with a leader’s behaviors, they attempt to try to change the leader’s behaviors. Or, in our own lives, if our job isn’t going the way we would like, we try to change our jobs. (I am not suggesting that changing our jobs is not a viable option, but all too often I see people never finding success in any job and they fail to recognize the common denominator associated with each experience: them).
The reality is that most of our problems deal with our thinking, learning, and/or behaviors. If that is the case, we need to reach into a deeper level for our solutions. That level is our mindsets.
If our problems require us to think better, learn better, or behave better to solve our problems, we cannot overlook our mindsets. They are the key to our solution.
Let me give you an example. Tom is the chief of a police department. He is trying his best to be a good leader. But, the reality is that he is causing rather poor morale in amongst the officers in his department.
While Tom is not purposefully being a dysfunctional leader, with little awareness, he “plays” favorites, relies too much on his authority when giving directions, and does not listen to his officers very well when they provide him with suggestions for improvement.
If you were Tom’s supervisor or coach, which do you think would be the more effective option to improve Tom’s leadership?
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Have him go through a leadership training where they focus on identify the most effective leadership behaviors
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Have him go through a self-awareness training meant to help him awaken to his nonconscious negative mindsets and desires that are fueling his poor behaviors, and then instructing him on how to improve his mindsets and behaviors.
It is not like he can’t learn from and improve from option #1, but even if Tom is able to change some of his behaviors, his prevailing negative mindsets and desires are going to continue to wreak havoc on the effectiveness of his leadership.
If you would like to take a deep dive into your mindsets, or into the mindsets of your leaders or employees, start by taking my free Mindset Assessment.
