Problem versus Challenge
from dictionary.reference.com:
Problem: any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.
Challenge: something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.:
"Detours, challenges, and crisis, are simply covers for miracles that had no other way of reaching you.
- Mike Dooley
Problem and Challenge: two words that are strikingly similar yet imply a different call to action.
It seems to me, by the definition of these words, that a "problem" often is the first stage of what inevitably can become a "challenge."
To me, a "problem" implies something often negative; an invisible wall that has no immediate sense of a solution.
A "challenge" goes a step further. Yes, the invisible wall is there, but instead of just saying "oh no, there's a wall", the thought process turns to "how do I get over that invisible wall."
A challenge is a call to action. It's a term that infers that whatever the obstacle is, it can be overcome.
Let's back up a moment. Let's talk about how people react to "problems" in their lives.
I'll just speak from my experience. There are many degrees of problems. Smaller problems usually offer an easier solution. These I can usually handle. I think of the steps involved to solve the problem, and complete them one by one. For example, perhaps there is a computer problem at work. I first ask what's wrong. Then I attempt to fix the problem myself, along with help from google. If I still can't solve the issue, I will call the computer tech. Problem solved. (sometimes with other people's help!)
Then there's bigger problems. Small problems usually involve inanimate objects. They are pretty straight forward. Bigger problems may also include these objects, but they often involve something much more complex: people.
It could be an illness, or a fight with a long term friend, or feeling unhappy with a career. In any case, these problems involve multiple people and multiple facets of these people's personalities, and it can all be very overwhelming.
Big problems initially can be very stifling, even paralyzing. The obstacle seems so great that you don't even know where to start. Recently, I've had to completely re-evaluate myself and what I want out of life and fundamentally how to live life. This isn't something that's solved in a day! And at first, I did see it as a "problem." I found it "getting in the way" of what I was "trying" to do.
Then I realized I was just getting in my own way.
With that realization, I then discovered that this "problem" was something that I created and was seeing as a "problem."
I made the decision to turn it into a "challenge" instead.
When I am at my Pilates instruction, my trainer often says "work past the fatigue", "work past the barrier and come out the other side."
Problems are things that we seek to extinguish. Challenges are things we seek to work through.
Here's a visualization. You are crossing a beautiful green countryside, with rolling hills that stretch on for miles. Suddenly, you come to a wall. This wall continues to the right and left indefinitely. It's high enough that you cannot see what's on the other side and you do not see how to climb it.
There's some choices here. An immediate reaction may be "oh no, I'm on this beautiful walk and now here's this damn wall. Who put this here? Why? How annoying. I just want to get on my way and now look!"
The next thought may be "ok, does it stretch on forever in either direction? I could walk miles one way and not find an end. I could walk miles the other way and find the same."
After some foot stomping and maybe some yelling, you come around to accept that the wall is there and you have no choice but to find some way to get over it.
There are no ladders. This is the countryside, perhaps hundreds of years ago (just for dramatic effect) and you have no climbing gear. What do you do?
One thing you do have in your burlap bag that you have carried with you is a rudimentary carving tool. I'm not going to go into why you have it; leave that up to your imagination.
You realize that the only way to get over the wall is to slowly pick up divots in the rocks in which to place your feet. It's going to get a lot more difficult the higher you climb, because you'll be suspended on the wall and making more divots. Yikes.
Although this seems very tedious and also dangerous, you've decided it's the best course of action. Course of action: challenge. You've reached the challenge stage. You've passed the "why me" stage and the "tantrum" stage and here you are, doing something difficult but practical.
I'm going to leave it up to you to imagine the divot process and whether it was safe enough to jump to the other side once you scaled the wall (I am imagining a bale of hay on the other side to land on!) but the point is that you did it. You conquered the challenge.
I am not saying that I have some magical philosophy that works for me 100% of the time. I am just saying that, through my journey, I have chosen to turn problems into challenges. Problems I can't handle. Challenges I can. And it's through the process of the challenge that the really good stuff happens. It may not seem like it at the time. It may seem like a bunch of sweat and tears. But that's where change takes place. So when you get to the other side of that wall, you are stronger.
Problem: any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty.
Challenge: something that by its nature or character serves as a call to battle, contest, special effort, etc.:
"Detours, challenges, and crisis, are simply covers for miracles that had no other way of reaching you.
- Mike Dooley
Problem and Challenge: two words that are strikingly similar yet imply a different call to action.
It seems to me, by the definition of these words, that a "problem" often is the first stage of what inevitably can become a "challenge."
To me, a "problem" implies something often negative; an invisible wall that has no immediate sense of a solution.
A "challenge" goes a step further. Yes, the invisible wall is there, but instead of just saying "oh no, there's a wall", the thought process turns to "how do I get over that invisible wall."
A challenge is a call to action. It's a term that infers that whatever the obstacle is, it can be overcome.
Let's back up a moment. Let's talk about how people react to "problems" in their lives.
I'll just speak from my experience. There are many degrees of problems. Smaller problems usually offer an easier solution. These I can usually handle. I think of the steps involved to solve the problem, and complete them one by one. For example, perhaps there is a computer problem at work. I first ask what's wrong. Then I attempt to fix the problem myself, along with help from google. If I still can't solve the issue, I will call the computer tech. Problem solved. (sometimes with other people's help!)
Then there's bigger problems. Small problems usually involve inanimate objects. They are pretty straight forward. Bigger problems may also include these objects, but they often involve something much more complex: people.
It could be an illness, or a fight with a long term friend, or feeling unhappy with a career. In any case, these problems involve multiple people and multiple facets of these people's personalities, and it can all be very overwhelming.
Big problems initially can be very stifling, even paralyzing. The obstacle seems so great that you don't even know where to start. Recently, I've had to completely re-evaluate myself and what I want out of life and fundamentally how to live life. This isn't something that's solved in a day! And at first, I did see it as a "problem." I found it "getting in the way" of what I was "trying" to do.
Then I realized I was just getting in my own way.
With that realization, I then discovered that this "problem" was something that I created and was seeing as a "problem."
I made the decision to turn it into a "challenge" instead.
When I am at my Pilates instruction, my trainer often says "work past the fatigue", "work past the barrier and come out the other side."
Problems are things that we seek to extinguish. Challenges are things we seek to work through.
Here's a visualization. You are crossing a beautiful green countryside, with rolling hills that stretch on for miles. Suddenly, you come to a wall. This wall continues to the right and left indefinitely. It's high enough that you cannot see what's on the other side and you do not see how to climb it.
There's some choices here. An immediate reaction may be "oh no, I'm on this beautiful walk and now here's this damn wall. Who put this here? Why? How annoying. I just want to get on my way and now look!"
The next thought may be "ok, does it stretch on forever in either direction? I could walk miles one way and not find an end. I could walk miles the other way and find the same."
After some foot stomping and maybe some yelling, you come around to accept that the wall is there and you have no choice but to find some way to get over it.
There are no ladders. This is the countryside, perhaps hundreds of years ago (just for dramatic effect) and you have no climbing gear. What do you do?
One thing you do have in your burlap bag that you have carried with you is a rudimentary carving tool. I'm not going to go into why you have it; leave that up to your imagination.
You realize that the only way to get over the wall is to slowly pick up divots in the rocks in which to place your feet. It's going to get a lot more difficult the higher you climb, because you'll be suspended on the wall and making more divots. Yikes.
Although this seems very tedious and also dangerous, you've decided it's the best course of action. Course of action: challenge. You've reached the challenge stage. You've passed the "why me" stage and the "tantrum" stage and here you are, doing something difficult but practical.
I'm going to leave it up to you to imagine the divot process and whether it was safe enough to jump to the other side once you scaled the wall (I am imagining a bale of hay on the other side to land on!) but the point is that you did it. You conquered the challenge.
I am not saying that I have some magical philosophy that works for me 100% of the time. I am just saying that, through my journey, I have chosen to turn problems into challenges. Problems I can't handle. Challenges I can. And it's through the process of the challenge that the really good stuff happens. It may not seem like it at the time. It may seem like a bunch of sweat and tears. But that's where change takes place. So when you get to the other side of that wall, you are stronger.
Comments
Post a Comment