Any problem, no matter how complex, can be solved
if approached with a creative strategy. Here are
ten steps to getting your mind in an optimal
problem-solving state.

Step 1. Start with Some Focused Questions.
The first step to unleashing your true
problem-solving potential is to ask yourself some
very focused, challenging questions. Here are some
very powerful questions that will often do the
trick:

• “What am I really trying to do?”

• “How am I trying to do it?”
• “What assumptions am I making?”
• “Could there be a simpler, better way to
  accomplish this?”

• “If I were to start all over again today -
  knowing what I now know - what would I do
  differently?”

Step 2. Question your Answers.
The next step is to question your answers. Ask
yourself:

• “If my assumptions are untrue, what should I do
  differently?”

• “Should I drop what I am doing now, and take a
  different approach?”

• “Is all of this in my best interests?”

Step 3. Apply the Theory of Resistance.
One effective way to get some creative solutions
to your problems is to apply the “theory of
resistance.” This theory says that in every
activity, there are one or more resisting factors.

The resistance you encounter often controls how
fast you’ll move from where you are today - to
where you want to go. The good thing is this about
identifying resistance is this: you’ll often
trigger some very powerful personal insights.

Suppose, for example, your have a goal of doubling
your income over the next three years. You could
begin your problem-solving exercise by identifying
the resistance standing in the way of your goal.
Ask yourself: “Why is my income not that high
already?”

Step 4. Analyze the Resistance.
Next ruthlessly go after your answers to Step 3.
Be totally honest with yourself. Don’t avoid
asking hard, painful questions, and demand an
answer from yourself. In the case above you could
ask: “Exactly why am I not making twice my income
right now? Exactly what is holding me back?”

Step 5. Take a Look at the Outside World.
One way to immediately determine if the resistance
is internal or external is to see if someone else
is managing to accomplish the goal you desire. If
they are, then you can safely conclude the
resistance is internal to you.

Step 6. Identify your Primary Internal Resistance.
As a consultant to key executives, I have often
discovered that usually 80% of what holds us back
lies within ourselves - and only 20% in the
outside world. So if you have not achieved what
you desire, the best place to begin to look for
the source of the resistance is within yourself.

Plus … since it’s so tough to create change in the
outside world, it’s far more effective to focus on
yourself anyway. You’re far more likely to get the
results you want!

Superior achievers tend to ask one question when
they’re not moving ahead: “What is it inside me,
or that I am doing or thinking, that is holding me
back?”

Step 7. Get Ruthless.
There’s a powerful old saying that’s very
appropriate here: “When a man’s fight begins with
himself, he is really worth something.”

So sharpen your teeth and bite into your primary
internal source of resistance. Demand answers from
yourself. You NEED to know *how* you are placing
limitations on your desired achievement, and look
it right in the eyeballs.

Step 8. Turn on the Lights.
The more often you repeat this process, the better
you’ll get at it. This process switches on your
mental headlight, and you’ll begin to spot
internal resistance before it grabs you by the
ankle.

Step 9. Constantly Examine your Goal.
Now that you have your mental headlight on, take a
close look at your goal. Make sure you’ve set a
clearly defined goal that you have a burning and
passionate desire to achieve.

Combining your goal with the intense emotion of
desire or excitement puts you into the upper level
of achievers. The more excited and enthusiastic
you are about your goal, the more rapidly your
mind will go to work to bring the goal into your
life.

Continue to ask focused questions to generate more
ideas about to achieve your goal. The more intense
your questions, the more ideas you will generate!
And once you have sunk your teeth into your key
internal resistance, you have placed your feet
solidly on the high road to success.

Step 10. Become a Professional Problem Solver
Brain Tracy says, “A goal you have not yet
achieved is simply a problem you have not yet
solved.”

In fact, whatever your goal, your real job is to
solve any and all problems that stand between you
and the achievement of that goal. Your success in
life, your career, your relationship, and your
business all depend on one thing - your ability
to understand and solve problems.

So from now on just view yourself as a
professional problem solver, and watch your goals
fall in place easier than you could have ever
imagined.

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[Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler]