GOLDEN NUGGETS…are valuable! Let me tell you about these incredible little gems! OK, we all can agree that life seems to never stops teaching us lessons…right? Some of our most memorable “Learning or teaching experiences” in life come when we are least expecting them! These experiences come to us in the strangest of places….and they teach us something… something we can take with us as we travel ahead along life’s journey! They hold some kind of value for us either now or will later on. I call these “Golden nuggets!” Some of our “golden nuggets” are quite small and can easily be overlooked and some are like finding a goldmine!
Yesterday I got lucky…and I found a “Golden Nugget” and plan to hang onto this one! It’s a small nugget, but I think it’s value will increase the longer I hang onto it! It’s very simple and maybe something I have heard at some point throughout my lifetime…but for some reason the concept, well, it took hold of me yesterday and I want to share it with you! Here’s what happened!
I enjoy fashion and try to keep up on it when I have the time! One of the many ways I can keep updated is by helping out a friend during the Half-Yearly and Nordstrom Anniversary Sales. This particular friend of mine has managed one of the small departments, like forever! It’s FUN and is something I have been doing since I stopped working in the corporate offices full time!
Yesterday I was out on the sales floor and there seemed to be several customers in a row with their own unique set of problems or challenges. The challenges were all very different, never seen before and very complicated. The rest of us had a hard time seeing any kind of possible solution in sight! But, this friend of mine, seemed to embrace each and every one of their challenges, one right after the other! She was actually kind of excited and didn’t look at it like it was a big deal or even a challenge, but more like an opportunity to find something that will work. She wasn’t about to give up…she knew there was a solution for each one of them… if she kept trying! She is an amazing women and was not afraid of anything that could go wrong or didn’t work right.
I was observing her very carefully, taking in all she was doing to make things work out for everyone! I have always admired this quality about her, but more so today, because she just wouldn’t quit, she had the most perseverance I had seen in a long time! One of the customer’s complimented her on finding a solution to her situation…and then it came…the GOLDEN NUGGET I will take with me for the rest of my life….this is what she said:
“I was raised to NEVER focus on a problem…BUT TO FOCUS ONLY ON FINDING A SOLUTION”
How basic and simple is that?
The “golden nugget” slipped right into the pocket filled with my other golden nuggets! You see, life will always be full of challenges and problems, as hard as we try, we can’t escape them, none of us can. Problems and challenges are just a part of everyday life! But, the way we look at our challenges…that’s what makes the difference! We can be “problem focused” or “solution focused,” it’s a choice we get to make! It’s so much easier to focus on our problems and even dwell on them for a long time. Maybe we even give up and throw in the towel because it’s just too hard to even think about finding a solution.
It takes more time and energy trying to find a solution, because the right solution may not come on your first attempt! You may have to try several times…but we have everything we need inside of us to come up with our own solutions! We really do!
Today, is a new day and wouldn’t it be awesome to start this day by saying “I REFUSE TO SPEND ALL MY PRECIOUS TIME FOCUSING ON MY PROBLEM…TODAY I AM GOING TO BE FOCUSED ON FINDING SOLUTIONS.” This is the better choice, don’t you think? Spending time on finding solutions so the problems go away, without us having to run from them or turn the other cheek…or sit in the problem! (Men are so good at this because they have a natural tendency to want to fix everything!) These challenges can be eliminated because we MADE A CHOICE and took the harder path, the more time consuming path…and found a solution to our challenge!
What roadblocks or obstacles do you need to overcome in your life in order to be more “solution focused?” What is holding you back?
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