“The problem is not the problem. The problem is how you THINK about the problem.”
I remember hearing this quote years ago, probably from my mom ’cause she is smart like that, and I hated it! I probably yelled at her no the problem is I have a problem!
But the truth is how we think about a problem makes all the difference. The last few weeks I have been dealing with sprinkler issues at work. I thought I had the sprinklers on but the water wasn’t turned on. Then I finally got someone out to turn the sprinklers on and he said that all of the valves were open but we weren’t getting water from the city line. I called the city to see if they would come and help and they said that we were getting water in the building so it isn’t a problem they control.
At this point I was done with the whole thing and in tears. I didn’t have a clue what to do or who to ask. I just knew that I was failing at my job, the lawn was going to die and the members of the library board were going to fire me. (Because that is always where my brain goes when I get upset.)
What I was focusing on was not really the problem. Our sprinklers needed water but I was too busy freaking out that I was going to get fired to really focus on how to fix the sprinkler problem.
I got some help and got the city there the next day to show us how to get water to the sprinklers. We had water and a couple of the sprinkler zones turned on while they where there. Only they didn’t turn off until I got there a few hours later and figured out how to turn them off. I thought I knew how to set all the zones and get them working but I couldn’t figure it out.
This time though instead of getting upset and focusing on what doesn’t matter I stayed focused on how to solve the problem. I called my husband and he came out to get everything working correctly.
The only difference between the two days was where I choose to focus my energies. Was I going to figure out how to solve the problem or let my thinking on the problem overwhelm me and not figure anything out?
As much as I hated the saying when I was a kid I try to stay focused on it now: the problem is not the problem. The problem is how you think about the problem. Is there a problem you have been looking at the wrong way? What can you do to change your thoughts and focus on the problem?
