A Better Way To Deal With Problems

When we get hit with a problem, it seems like it’s always more than one at a time to add to our already growing list.

That causes stress that can actually force us to make bad decisions and prolong the grief.

But there is a better way:

  1. Don’t try to solve a new problem on the spot, manage it.  Put it on a priority list with everything else. 
  2. Resist the urge to solve the next problem that comes along.
  3. Know the there are three kinds of problems and we would do well to know them inside and out:  the kind that can be solved, the kind that can’t be solved and the ones that for some reason or the other resolve themselves.
  4. Put emotion in its place.  Getting emotional usually makes a problem more important than it may actually be.  Resist that temptation.
  5. My favorite:  every time you chip away at an existing problem, try to see it as making a small payment one installment at a time as opposed to one giant move to make it go away.

“Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things” — Henry Ward Beecher

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