Improve Yourself 9: Grapple with Impossible Situations

This continues our series on improving yourself to get the biggest raises and best promotions

Terry headed a division assigned to increase production by 1,000% a year over 3 years. Part of the strategy involved opening 62 operations in 30 countries in a 3 year period. Another part of the strategy included providing training to clients. Terry and his team needed to find a way to prepare trainers in each operation. He and his team “grappled” with the idea and found a solution. They trained university students how teach it and sent them to spend 6 months in each location—at their own expense—to train other trainers. Terry and his team met their goal within 3 years.

Grapple to Find Impossible Solutions

Develop problem solving skills. Your ability to solve problems increases your worth in the workplace. Gordon B. Hinckley wrote in Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes: 

“The learning process is endless. We must read, we must observe, we must assimilate, and we must ponder that to which we expose our minds. I believe in the evolution of the mind, the heart and the soul of humanity. I believe in improvement. I believe in growth. There is nothing quite as invigorating as being able to evaluate and then solve a difficult problem, to grapple with something that seems almost unsolvable and then find a resolution.”

Keys to Solving Unsolvable Problems

Hinckley states some profound concepts in this short paragraph:

• Believe in improvement, growth and the evolution of the mind, heart, and spirit of humanity to improve yourself
• Improvement requires that you ponder and think about what you learn
• Invigorate your mind by grappling with difficult challenges and solve them

My parents taught us to exercise our minds with brain teasing games. For example, Dad would hold up a 5”x10”x2” sponge with 12 holes in it, and ask “What is this?”. The person who created the most answers won the game. This, and similar exercises, honed our creativity and problem-solving skills.

Monday we discuss how you can improve your communication skills with people

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