Problems Are Opportunity’s Catapult!

“Whether or not something is a problem or an opportunity is
determined by your own attitude, approach and perspective. It
is entirely your choice.” -Jill Koenig

I found this quote inspiring when I read it. Jill Koenig was speaking in her October 11th post about the creators of YouTube, which we all know as a household name like Google. (Which coincidentally recently bought YouTube for 1.6 billion dollars.) This household name started with a personal problem, “how can we share a large video file on the web with my friends… It will not fit in an email”. Eighteen months later these two guys have not only solved their personal problem, but become multi-millionaires at less than 30 years old. Did they have a problem, or an opportunity?

In speaking with a pastor from my church last week he said, “I have had people in my life teach me the right way of doing things, and the wrong way of doing things, both are blessings in my life… It’s all about perspective.” (Pastor Perry Keyt) In reading Jamie’s Post about things to be thankful for I emailed her this: “It is easy to get all dumpy on life sometimes, because we look past the little things that bless us everyday, and they are usually the most important in the long run. So stopping to count even the smallest blessings, you can begin to feel like “Who Am I to be so rich?” That is a great way to live, don’t you think?” I went on to write this post.

Whether it is a professional or personal struggle, it is your attitude and perspective that can change the situation.You can choose to be disgruntled because you have to work and want to be at home with your kids. You can complain about your marriage. (We are all guilty) Or you can find your part in the problem and fix it. Finding a way to fix your marriage may lead you to a career of helping other marriages! You do not set out to heal a broken relationship with the attitiude of making money out of it, but the point here is, having the right attitude and perspective that “I can accept my part and change my situation”, affects every area of your life.

You can complain that there is nothing educational for infants, or you can decide to take your child’s toys put them in front of a video camera, play classical music as you make the toys move, and create a “household name” company that you sell to Disney for millions, and never have to worry about money or working again! (A mother’s personal problem became known as the “Baby Einstein Company”. Problem, or opportunity? Depends on your perspective and attitude.)

Dave Ramsey was a milionaire, and bankrupt before thirty. He had a problem, which did not look like an opportunity at the time. While I am sure he and his wife saw Bankruptcy as a HUGE personal problem, they soon saw the opportunity. . He did not set out to teach others, he was simply trying to change his own life. This problem catapulted him into an opportunity. He learned how not only to help himself, but others as well, to have financial peace. He is now, once again, a millionaire.

Sometimes even things that cause us pain can be an opportunity, if we have the right perspective. “Grey’s Anatomy” showed a little girl with a disease where she felt no pain. (This is an actual disease) The little girl was letting kids hit her with a baseball bat to show them how tough she was. She had internal bleeding and could have died. A real life case of this showed a child, about one, who had poked her eye out and was now blind because she could not feel the pain, and did not realize the damage she was doing. On the show one of the Dr.’s said “This is what pain is for people, to tell us when something is wrong”

Pain, discomfort, and unhappiness, are all catapults to change. Even the things that seem hopeless, and that hurt down to your bones, can be opprotunities with the right attitude and perspective!