Define a problem

What is the critical problem? This deceptively simple question is actually one of the most difficult parts of the analysis. Perhaps the most common problem in case analysis is that we fail to identify the real problem

and as a result solve the wrong problem or just a symptom, and leave the original problem unfixed.

Define A Problem

The bigger your problem, the bigger your opportunity. If you find a way of solving your own problem you will also be able to help other people in solving their problems. A problem is nothing negative and nothing to be afraid of.

Words have power. Your mind operates with language, so if you want to change your thought processes and your perceptions, begin by changing the words you use. By replacing the word 'problem' with one of the four suggested options, something magnificent and very powerful will happen, as soon as the problem appears.

1. If you call it a situation, it will calm you down, because a situation is something neutral, neither bad nor good, and a situation can be analysed.

2. If you call it a challenge, it will boost your ambition to accept and to overcome it. Most people love challenges. Life would be boring without them.

3. If you call it an opportunity you change your attitude and your approach. Instead of asking 'How did I get into this?', you will ask yourself 'What can I do to get out of this?', or 'How can I take advantage of it?' or 'How can I benefit from this?' Napoleon Hill claims that every adversity, failure and heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or of a greater benefit. Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking, wrote that 'Whenever God wants to send you a gift, He wraps it up in a problem.'

4. If you call it a lack of decision, you drive yourself towards a solution. You won't focus on the problem any more but you will start thinking about decisions that have to be taken in order to solve it.

Problems are usually a lack of decision. Any problem can be solved by making a decision. Here is one of the most important lessons I learned from listening to Anthony Robbins: 'There is always a third option!' People generally think that they either have no option at all, or that they have two options only. They can see only A or B, yes or no, black or white, etc. You are in a dilemma if you believe that you have two options only. Get out of it by brainstorming more possibilities and start asking more intelligent questions because all questions contain built-in answers.