The 28 Day Challenge
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28
 
Day 13 - Think about a situation in different ways

Take a situation that you think about in a particular way and see how many different ways you can think about the situation by asking:-

I've taken the situation of my current employment because that's the issue that is mostly dominating my attention at the moment. Right now I'm concerned about it for a number of different reasons:
  1. I am unfullfilled and frustrated being there.
  2. I am not even sure if the company has any longevity. So anxiety about security is another element.
  3. I feel I'm wasting my life, to an extent, by being here.


I find answering these questions to be the biggest challenge. It's very difficult seeing a positive spin on the situation.
  • What's great about this situation?
    • I find it difficult to think of anything great right now except, maybe, earning an income and having colleagues who are also friends.
  • What opportunities does this situation give to me?
    • I think the main opportunity is that I am now firmly out of my automatic pilot way of thinking. A bit like yesterday's reverse swim I am starting to think about the situation in a different way. I can't say I exactly thrill to the idea of potential unemployment, but I have begun to prepare my situation to allow for its possibility. In some ways the prospect of this change is almost exciting because it has a feeling of nothing to lose so 'why be afraid of loss?'.
  • How would Einstein (or another famous person you admire) approach this situation.
    • I am going to have to think about this one.
  • What is the benefit of this situation.
    • The immediate benefit is that I have an income which has given me the opportunity to do so much. It's given me a sense of status and esteem, allowed me to have a comfortable lifestyle and enjoy my leisure time more fully.

      I have a reasonably good employment record that increases my employability even in other employment areas.
      Having a good employment and credit record means I have a good credit rating and can use financial resources at my disposal to make positive changes, which may enable to change my current situation and allow me to prepare for whatever it may present me.

     
Day 13 - Think about a situation in different ways
1 How did you feel? Slightly excited. It feels like the beginning of an adventure, and I haven't had one of those in a long while.
2 In what way did you find the challenge useful?
Remember even if the challenge was negative this is an excellent learning for yourself.		 It is prompting me to take stock of the positive elements that exist in my work situation. In doing that it gives me a framework to move on, it also gives me an insight into the fact that, deep down, I find it as exciting as scary.
3 What insight did you gain? I realise on a superficial level that everything is an opportunity, we've just got to be thinking in an open enough way in order to be able to take advantage of it.
4 What did you learn about yourself? That I see this time as potentially an exciting and interesting one, but all my habitual ways of thinking are warning me to be afraid of the possible consequences as opposed to seeing them as something, which could be beneficial. Right now I'm not sure which bit of me is going to win.