Brian Tracy argues that reframing setbacks as opportunities reduces stress and builds resilience. He recommends shifting your language from "problem" to "challenge" to "opportunity," and choosing positive thoughts to stay constructive when difficulty hits.
In this time that we spend together, I want to give you some ideas on how to manage stress and overcome difficulties at the same time. As an individual, you are continually faced with challenges and difficulties and temporary setbacks. They are an unavoidable and inevitable part of being a human being. By learning how to manage stress and respond with a positive attitude to each challenge, you you'll grow as a person and start moving forward in life. In fact, without these setbacks, you could not have learned what you needed to know and developed the qualities of your character to where they are today. Remember, all great success is preceded by great failure. Sometimes for months and years before you break through. Much of your ability to succeed comes comes from the way you deal with life. One of the characteristics of superior men and women is that they recognize the inevitability of temporary disappointments and defeats, and they accept them as a normal and natural part of life. They do everything possible to avoid problems. But when problems come, superior people respond with a positive attitude. Learn from the situation and then keep moving forward in the direction of their dreams. And this is what you must do as well. There's a natural tendency in all of us to react emotionally when our expectations are frustrated in any way. When something we wanted and hoped for or expected fails to materialize, we feel a temporary sense of disappointment and unhappiness. We feel disillusioned and often react as though we have been punched in the emotional solar plexus. Often we get angry and lash out. This is quite normal and natural. The optimistic person, however, knows how to manage stress in difficult situations and soon moves beyond this disappointment. He responds quickly to the adverse event and interprets it as being temporary, specific and external to himself. He doesn't take it personally. The optimist responds with a positive attitude and knows how to manage stress and counter the negative feelings by immediately reframing or re explaining the event so that it appears positive in some way. Since your conscious mind can only hold one thought at a time, either positive or negative, if you deliberately choose a positive thought to dwell upon, you keep your mind optimistic and your emotions positive. Since your thoughts and feelings determine your actions, you'll tend to be a more constructive person and you'll start moving rapidly toward the goals that you have chosen. It all comes down to the way you talk to yourself on a regular basis. In our courses in problem solving and decision making, we encourage people to respond to problems by changing their language from negative to positive. Instead of using the word problem, we encourage people to use the word situation. You see a problem is something you deal with or fight with or wrestle with. The event is the same. It's the way you interpret the event to yourself that makes it sound and appear completely different. A situation is neutral. It's something that you just deal with on a regular basis when without any emotion involved. Even better than situation is the word challenge. Whenever you have a difficulty, immediately reframe it. Choose to view it as a challenge, and start moving forward. Rather than saying I have a problem, say I have an interesting challenge facing me today, or we have an interesting challenge we have to deal with today. The word challenge is inherently positive. It's something that you rise to that makes you stronger and better. It's the same situation, only the word that you're using to describe it is different. It's more positive, and it makes you feel more positive and optimistic. The best of all possible words to maintain a positive attitude and manage stress is the word opportunity. When you're faced with a difficulty of any kind, you Instead of saying I have a problem, you can say, I am faced with an unexpected opportunity and then look into what it is to find out what it might be. And if you concentrate your powers on finding out what that opportunity is, even if it's only a valuable lesson, you will certainly find it. As the parable says, seek and ye shall find for all who seek, find it. Remember this. A situation is neutral. It's only how you interpret it or explain it to yourself that gives it an emotional context. If you explain a situation to yourself in a positive way, you remain positive, optimistic, and creative, and you're much more capable of dealing with it effectively.
