"Successful people ... ask, 'How else I can look at this problem?'"--Jim Rohn

A big part of being successful involves using “out of the box” thinking to deal with problems. This is what successful people do when faced with challenges. They use their creative abilities to brainstorm alternate ways to resolve the issue.

Sometime they go through the problem, sometimes over it. And sometimes, they go around it, using a detour that may seem to be leading them in a different direction but really is circumventing the obstacle while still heading toward the goal.

What difficulty are you facing right now? What obstacle is blocking your path? Come up with three possible solutions—the more creative the better.

Having trouble developing solutions? Then brainstorm with a member of your Change Team. Two heads can be better than one!

If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get the situation he has prepared for.--Florence Scovel Shinn

It’s one thing to have a Plan B just in case. It’s another thing when your focus is totally on the possibility of negative outcomes.

You say things like “I’m ready for the job interview—but I probably won’t get it” or “I’ve developed a great business plan—but it probably won’t work."

Your energy goes wherever you put most of your attention—and your attention is centered on what you most believe. No matter how well you plan, if you truly believe that you will fail, you will.

Plan for the worst, but hope for the best. Anticipate problems but believe in success.

“Chance favors the prepared mind”—Louis Pasteur

I’m sure you know some people whose life seemed touched by good luck.

• They make a sales call just when the prospective client is ready to buy.
  
• Their new investment immediately skyrockets.
  
• They meet that “special someone” purely by coincidence—at a coffee shop they frequent or standing in line at the bank.

Is it luck? Or are they doing the hard work “behind the scenes”?

While it’s true that serendipitous occurrences can take place, most often when they are deconstructed, it turns out that there was also a fair bit of consistent planning and committed effort.

Bottom line: accept luck when it comes a-calling but don't sit there waiting for the doorbell to ring.

Focus on what you want to achieve. Put your efforts toward success. Get yourself out there (wherever “there” may be) so when someone needs what you have to offer, you will be in the line of sight.

“Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans.”-- Peter F. Drucker

Are you a doer or a dreamer?

It’s all well and good to imagine a better future, to visualize success, to dream of what might be but…if all you do is imagine, visualize and dream, you don’t have a hope of reaching your goal.

Attitude is part of success, but so is hard work.You have to be prepared to do what needs to be done (internally or externally) if you want to succeed.

Have a plan—a true step-by-step procedure for moving yourself from Point A to Point B. Otherwise, you are “all talk and no action”!

“The person with the plan most often carries the day…”—Phillip McGraw, Ph.D.

There are those magical times when, in the words of The A-Team member Hannibal Smith, “a plan comes together.” You have an idea, you develop a strategy, you execute your plan and voila!—it all works!

And then there are the other times—the times when, no matter how carefully thought out and followed your plan was, what you wanted to happen doesn’t. Or some unexpected event throws a monkey wrench into the works.

While it’s tempting to throw in the towel and give up, this is when you need to implement your Plan B. But before you can do that, you have to create one.

Choose a goal you are working toward and look at the steps you are taking to achieve success. Now, imagine that one of those “steps” develops a crack—something goes wrong and you can’t use it to reach the next one. What will you do? How will you work around that setback?

Developing a Plan B is a creative exercise. Even if you never need it, the practice you get from exploring options can keep your “alternate thinking” muscle limber and ready for action.

(Need more life tips? E-mail me at nancy@communityofchange.com to sign up for my monthly Change-A-Gram!)