Your Dilemma Sparks the Search

You have an idea for a business.  You’ve just lost your job.  You need to meet quota for the month. You are trying to raise money for a local charity.  Whatever situation you find yourself in, whatever challenge you seek to address, your dilemma sparks the search.

I didn’t come up with that line on my own.  Instead, I found it on page 73 of Chip and Dan Heath’s recent book, Decisive:  How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work.  The context in which the authors use this line is in relation to “bright spots” – the most positive points that occur in a situation.

“Both bright spots and best practices, then, act as a source of inspiration.  If you’ve got a dilemma and you need new options, you can look for new ideas externally… or internally.  Notice in both situations the process is reactive:  Your dilemma sparks the search.  But there’s a lot to be gained by taking the results of your search and recording them for future use – to turn a reactive search into a proactive set of guidelines.”

To my mind, the lesson here is that we can turn challenges into wins. In our darkest moments, the light shines by taking action.  In these most difficult of circumstances, we have the power to achieve outstanding results.  In so doing, we define the optimal solutions that we can proactive seek in the future.

This, of course, has great application in Networking.  Need to identify an expert in underwater basket weaving?  Don’t know where to turn?  Turn to your network.  Start asking around.  Generally speaking, human beings love to help, we love to help fix whatever is broken.  Chip and Dan Heath recommend, “Find[ing] someone who has solved your problem.”  Essentially, by asking around, by highlighting for others what you need, by extracting the key issues you are facing, those around you will work to help you find solutions and connect you with others who may be able to assist.

So, don’t get frustrated.  Take action.  Your dilemma sparks the search for solutions, for connections, for answers to your questions.

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