3 tips for reframing a situation as a 'positive challenge'

Peak performers often reframe a testing situation as a ‘positive challenge’ – rather than rush around with ‘pants on their head’. They adopt this approach in many circumstances, even those that involve life and death. Robert Muller, a former Assistant Secretary General for the UN, did this when escaping from the Nazis. Being hunted was so frightening, he said, that he reframed the experience as him being in a film. Robert found that ‘removing’ himself from the reality meant he was more able to see options. Looking back on his wartime experiences, he says they taught him the power of choice. “You can ‘decide’ how you are going to be in virtually any situation.” Robert later wrote a book on this theme called Most of all the taught me Happiness.

People sometimes translate difficult emotional situations into an intellectual challenge. Why? Because then it is easier to take a helicopter view and find solutions. Otherwise the feeling take over completely and they freeze. Let’s explore how this approach works in practice - particularly when encountering a testing situation.

* You can adopt a positive approach.

People who contract a serious illness sometimes reframe the journey as tackling a ‘project’. They adopt a positive approach by aiming to do their best and ‘controlling the controllables’. They concentrate what they can control, rather than worry about what they can’t control. One person explained:

“My first step was to take more control. So I scanned the internet to discover more about my illness. Previously I had waited for hospitals to return my messages. Nurses and doctors always do their best, but they are frequently run off their feet. So I threw myself into discovering everything I could about the illness, the support groups and regaining my health.”

The Penny Brohn Cancer Care organisation, for example, aims to offer people a variety of options for tackling their illnesses. Formerly The Bristol Cancer Help Centre, it specialises in offering complementary care. But it insists on enabling people to consider all kinds of treatments - conventional and complementary. The aim is to encourage people to shape their own futures.

Positive people aim to do their best. They are realistic, however, and concentrate on what they can control. Try tackling the exercise on this theme. First, describe the specific situation you can reframe as a positive challenge. Second, describe the specific things you can do to adopt a positive approach towards this challenge.

The specific situation I can reframe as a positive challenge is:

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The specific things I can do to adopt a positive approach towards this challenge are:

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* You can set a positive goal and find a positive way forward.

Peak performers often use the ‘5C’ model for finding setting a crystal-clear goal and find creative ways forward. They focus on the challenges, choices, consequences, creative solutions and conclusions. Clarity is crucial. So when defining the challenge, identify the real results to achieve.

“Certainly I wanted to regain my health, but in some ways I saw that as a by-product” said the person who saw their illness as a ‘project’. “My aim was to care for my body and soul. So I chose to eat properly, do things I loved and pursue my chosen treatment. I also kept a blog – but tried to make it ‘educational’, rather then self-indulgent. My ‘project’ included helping others to navigate their way through this kind of illness in the future.”

Let’s return to the specific situation which you can redefine as a positive challenge. Try working through the following steps. Clarity is the key – start by defining the real results you want to achieve. Choices – describe the possible options. Consequences – describe the pluses and minuses of each option. Creative solutions – describe the potential imaginative solutions. Conclusions – describe your chosen route for tackling the challenge. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to set a positive goal and find a positive way forward towards tackling the challenge are:

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* You can do your best to get positive results.

“Persistence is crucial,” said one crisis manager. “Settle on your chosen strategy, then keep doing the right things. You must build-in ‘reality checks’, but sometimes you don’t see instant results. Keep looking for signs – even underneath the surface – for: a) What is working; b) What can be better and how. Encourage yourself and redouble your efforts. Do everything possible to reach the goal.”

Looking back on your life, can you recall a time when you tackled a challenge successfully? Perhaps you began by being consumed by emotion; but then explored many creative solutions. Pursuing your chosen route, you worked hard until you solved the crisis. How can you follow similar principles in the future? Let’s return to the situation have reframed as a challenge. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to do my best to get positive results are:

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Some you win, some you lose. But the key is always to do your best. You can do this by reframing things as a positive challenge – rather than by putting pants on your head.