Just thinking - and sharing my musing - about what Dr Maxwell Maltz had talked about in his Psycho-Cybernetic classic:

'Close scrutiny will show that most crisis situations are opportunities to either advance, or stay where you are.'

A challenge is any situation that takes you out of your comfort zone. It’s important to see this type of situation as an opportunity rather than a crisis.

Dr Maltz had argued that someone with a negative self-image would often confuse challenges (opportunities to advance) with crises (life-threatening situations) because they would perceive threats to be bigger than they are.

Such folks would find excuses to avoid challenges, and they would even waste time and energy worrying or evading discomforting situations.

On the other hand, folks with a positive self-image recognize the difference between an actual crisis and a perceived challenge.

They proactively seek ways to overcome challenges, and they spend their time visualizing and planning how to make the best out of every situation.

In her breakthrough book Mindset, psychologist Dr Carol Dweck of Stanford University has explained the two mindsets used to describe a person’s attitude to challenges and setbacks:

• Growth mindset (people see challenges as an opportunity to learn); and
• Fixed mindset (people see challenges as proof of their inability to achieve success);

Dr Dweck has argued that even if you have had a tendency toward a fixed mindset, you could still develop a growth mindset, through conscious awareness and deliberate effort.

Frankly, many of the methods Dr Maltz had prescribed in his classic would readily complement Dr Dweck’s argument that you can improve the way you approach and overcome the challenges in your life.