You’ve Been Lied To: The Glass Is Neither Half-Empty nor Half-Full
The single most powerful reframe that will make it possible for you to reach any goal, dream, and desire.
There are two kinds of people: those who see the glass as half-empty, and those who see it as half-full. Right?
Wrong! I belong to none of the two, and hopefully, by the end of this story, you won’t either.
But first, I want to ask you a question:
Do you consider losing a client a problem, or an opportunity?
It’s hard to see our problems as opportunities considering all the trouble they put us through.
And being in denial about a problem being a problem, is not going to be helpful.
Toxic positivity never helped anyone, right?
But let’s take a moment to examine something that is usually considered a problem: losing a client.
I bet your answer to my question earlier was “Nadia, come on… Who sees losing a client as an opportunity?”
Well, my client did. And I’m so very proud of her.
You’ve heard this before: a door must close for another one to open.
Or, space must be made for something new to come along.
Our annoying tendency to attach doesn’t make us very good at making space. We tend to accumulate to-dos, jump on every opportunity, and lose our sleep over due dates and irrelevant details. And sometimes, the Universe chips in and gives us a little push to see things from a new perspective.
This is what happened to M., who went from feeling overwhelmed, acting out of FOMO, and going above and beyond to create an experience for her client that she didn’t entirely feel ready for, to reconsidering her priorities, adjusting her schedule over what matters to her, and feeling good about her work and projects again.
All thanks to this one annoying (and likely financially challenging) event.
M. is not the only one who was able to make meaningful change and profound transformation out of a problem.
Chances are, you’ve done this too.
“Every problem is an opportunity in disguise”, said John Adams.
And, I would add, it’s an opportunity on multiple levels:
- Emotionally speaking, a problem forces you to face your fears, anxieties, and self-doubts, and strengthen your acceptance muscle.
- It brings our limiting beliefs to the surface and allows us to see when we are placing our self-worth or confidence outside of us.
- It allows us to plan ahead for the event of the problem occurring again in the future, strengthening our confidence in our ability to succeed.
- It gives us the chance to reconsider our choices and assess and adjust as per our Values and Intentions.
- It gives us the chance to cultivate our ability to bring our nervous system to a state of calm in challenging times and preserve our peace of mind despite all that is happening around us.
- It allows us to get creative in finding solutions, and most importantly grow our resilience over and over.
Of course, we could instead focus on the problem and all the negative consequences that it brings into our lives.
Funny how leaning into our problems and indulging in self-commiseration feels sweeter than being intentional and choosing the empowering reframe.
But what good does it do?
No, seriously — what good does it do?
Sure, you’ll be experiencing some strong emotions before you’re able to analyze the problem with a clear mind and get to solution-oriented (or opportunity-oriented) mode, and that’s natural.
I’m not advocating for suffocating your anger, sadness, or worry. Hold space for you to accept and honor your feelings, but don’t let them get into your head for longer than you need them to be.
Listen to their message, strategize to the extent that you can/need to, and then move on to approaching the situation from a different angle.
Back to the glass of water, here is how I see it:
the glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. It’s both.
This dialectical nature applies to any problem that you encounter on your way to making your dreams come true.
Losing a client, or your job, or breaking up with your partner is terrible, painful, and annoying.
It gets in the way of your peace of mind and plans.
Accepting the dialectical nature of reality, and embracing it, is not about saying “This isn’t a problem”.
It’s about saying “This is both a huge setback AND an opportunity. How can I make something out of it? How can I take this awful thing and turn it into something that serves me?”
In the best-case scenario, you’ll be able to reframe the situation and turn it to your advantage in the blink of an eye.
Other times, only time will reveal how that awful experience was indeed useful to your journey. Trusting that everything will work out exactly as it needs to, is key.
Learning to see the hidden opportunity behind every problem is the ultimate entrepreneurial mindset.
Training your ability to reframe every situation into something that empowers you and allows you to move forward, is the key to achieving any goal that you set for yourself.
Next time you encounter a setback, I invite you to ask yourself:
How can I turn this into an opportunity?
What good can come out of this?
Train your mind to see opportunities instead of problems, and you’ll be unstoppable.
