Solution Orientation: Don’t Bury Your Head in the Sand!

How to Find a Solution for Every Problem

“Do I even have a way out of this?” Do you recognize that feeling of helplessness when problems arise in your life? Time and time again, we may find ourselves in challenging situations (sometimes of our own making, sometimes not), for which we have no ready solution. But the crucial question is: How do you handle it? We believe there are at least two options, with drastically different outcomes.

The first option:

You bury your head in the sand, constantly circling back mentally to everything that has gone wrong, and resign yourself without a fight to the disaster. You accept it and try to muddle through somehow. Sounds depressing? It is.

But what if you opt for the other possibility?

Namely, the conviction that your problem – no matter how hopeless it may seem at the moment – is fundamentally solvable. It might seem crazy given the current situation, but you endeavor with all available means to find a way out of the predicament.

In complex situations where we’re stuck, it’s often difficult to think in terms of solutions because we focus too much on problems that seem to hinder potentially good solutions. That’s human and normal. It’s an automatic response. But you can break this cycle.

In the initial stage, it’s less about visible action and much more about your inner attitude toward dealing with the seemingly unchangeable situation. If you’re convinced that there’s a solution, you create mental space to find it. Because being solution-oriented means exploring all possibilities to arrive at creative solutions.

Ask yourself, what would you do if all circumstances were perfect?

Visualize this end state. And then, step by step, approach this solution. Consider: What can I do today to get there? Try one thing after another, and inevitably, you’ll move closer to a solution.

If we further develop this approach, there’s another advantage. Solution-oriented people can set clear goals for themselves and anticipate foreseeable difficulties. That means they can develop alternative courses of action in advance.

Sounds good? Then why not give it a try?

Reevaluate your inner attitude and search for alternatives for a specific situation in your life that you consider “problem-prone” (e.g., workplace, living situation, etc.). We hope you won’t have to use this “crisis plan.” But this way, you’ll be better prepared for difficult situations and less easily thrown off course by the unexpected.