How To Deal With Problems: 5 Steps

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash

Do you occasionally problems? Obstacles and challenges that prevent you from achieving your goals?

The following strategies are common if it comes to dealing with problems:

• Talking it up
  You talk yourself out of the problem and pretend it has no impact on yourself and your environment.
• Procrastinating
  Instead of tackling the problem immediately, you postpone it and convince yourself that it is not that urgent.
• Distracting
  You throw yourself into other activities (work, hobbies).

All three strategies have the risk of making the problem bigger rather than smaller by not addressing it.

• A better strategy is: Work out a solution
  Problems don’t solve themselves. So, accept the situation, tackle it head-on, and put off unimportant trivialities until another time.

Five steps to solve problems

1. Define the problem

Write down the problem. In doing so, name the problem and its consequences.

2. Analyze the problem

Ask yourself — also in writing:

• What is good about it or what could be good about it?
• What is the lesson in it?
• What is not yet perfect in my life that this problem could arise? What factors have led to it?
• What does it mean for my life if I can remove the problem forever?

3. Develop solution options

Brainstorm and write down every solution option that comes to your mind:

• What can I do to solve this current problem? What specific steps are needed?
• What resources and people can help me to solve the problem?
• What am I ready to do to avoid such a situation in the future?

4. Evaluation of the solution options

Now you determine which proposals come closest to your ideal solution. To do this, define the resolution’s criteria and evaluate them. Choose the solution option that best meets your criteria

5. Implementation