My 7 Essential Tips for Positive Problem Solving During COVID-19, will have you on the way to gaining control of your happiness and business focus faster during this uncertain time.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, unsure and anxious about the current economic environment and the future of your business, please take a moment to read this post.
First things first, let’s look into the power of positive thinking and perceptions.
Positive Thinking and Perceptions.
Will shape and alter your outlook in any situation. Your perceptions change how you choose to see and interact with the circumstances unfolding around you, and what you believe about those situations.
The power of changing the outcome by adopting a positive perception is a thing – do it! There is a reason people praise the “secret” and the laws of attraction with the ability to manifest; these methods encourage the outcomes you want utilising positive thinking.
This isn’t a secret, and you can tap into this now, and use it during lockdown to rise above the circumstances.
Use this time as an opportunity to action personal growth, adapt to change, set goals and plan for long term success.
A standard problem-solving technique or process may not be enough to solve issues such as sadness and disconnection due to isolation and the loss of immediate income.
Below is a standard problem-solving technique:
- Define the problem: understand and communicate what you need effectively.
- Gather all the pertinent information: that surround the problem.
- List all the possible solutions you can think of immediately.
- Brainstorm and research: associated risks to add more solutions to your list.
- Evaluate your solutions: then choose one to start.
- Evaluate your choice and its effectiveness in solving the issu.e
- Try again: If first, you don’t succeed.
It’s pretty bland, wouldn’t you agree?
Let’s add some worldly hoe wisdom to the above process.
Without further delay, here are my Essential Tips for Positive Problem Solving
Tip 1 – Adopt A Solutions Focussed Approach First
Instead of brooding and absorbing the negatives in current circumstances, which is detrimental and ineffective, a solutions focussed approach refocuses your mind.
This technique is often used in therapy and highlights the importance of shifting your energy toward setting future goals. Doing so will eventually lead to a resolution in the now. Ok, sounds great, but what does all that mean?
Your focus and goals don’t have to reflect solving the immediate issues before you, setting any goals or projects in action right now, can help ease the negativity of the current environment.
This is so important, as it means you are taking steps to move forward and even if you are unaware or unsure of where you need to go, any steps are better than none.
Working on ANY project, whether it be a creative project or business project, will also solve some of the problems you may be facing in the present.
No matter what it is, you need to start something. Trust your gut and follow it during your journey.
Have some fun, rediscover goals and dreams you have forgotten and unleash the power you have within.
Tip 2 – Prioritise What You Can Change
For solving those issues in the now, be aware that the problem-solving process only works if you have identified the problems, acknowledge the risks and are only focussing on finding solutions to action for outcomes that you can change. We cant change the world, but we can change how we partake in it.
You only need to solve a fraction of the problem at hand. Write them down and focus on the issues one at one time. Do not waste time trying to fix everything at once because you can only change what you can control.
The purpose of prioritising problems and solutions is to ensure that unnecessary changes are not actioned rather and avoided. You don’t want to backtrack and double up on your time later. Some answers you come up with along the way might solve multiple problems quicker.
You want to conserve your energy and not double up on tasks. Plan now and act later once you know all the circumstances and risks.
Tip 3 – Acknowledge Your Fears & Let Them Go
So many people view change as scary; the fear of change can be debilitating.
Everyone who knows me well knows this. For me, change is a stimulant for success.
I embrace change and thrive in stressful situations. I can do this because I acknowledge my fears, and then I release them from my mind.
I don’t make decisions in doubt as a toxic reaction. I plan to be proactive, and I expect issues and obstacles to unfold long in advance.
Fear is a feeling you have when you perceive a situation that you are in to be unsafe, insecure, and you lack control of the circumstances. People who fear tend to lash out at others around them, or blame situations and others for their undoing.
Well, anxiety can fuck right off out of here. We don’t want it, we don’t need it in this situation, but we need to acknowledge it and move forward.
Try this on for size; the purpose of fear is for survival, right?
Sometimes it is warranted and will stop you from harm.
Sometimes, it prevents you from experiencing success by enabling reactive actions or the avoidance of the steps that make you successful in the first place.
For example, you fear a shark attack when swimming in the ocean. Fear will stop more people swimming in the ocean than sharks do attack people.
All those people too scared to swim never experienced the serenity and inner peace of swimming in the ocean.
They never went on holiday in Thailand, never went scuba diving in a shipwreck, never glimpsed at the extraordinary life in the underwater realm with their own eyes, they never discovered or challenged themselves to do so.
Most of all, these people missed opportunity after opportunity for personal growth. Please don’t do that to yourself, accept change, and you will see it is so much easier and more rewarding.
In business, fear of change will make you ground your progress to complete halt, and it is not the situation that is stalling your success; it is you.
The only way to keep moving forward is to acknowledge that you are fearful and then release those fears of the outcome, whatever will be – will be.
Have faith in your ability, and if you do end up at a dead-end with an outcome not favourable, you will problem solve your way out of that situation too.
At least you can prepare for that unfavourable outcome to arise, but if you stand still, you have no idea what to expect or plan.
It’s time to let go of the fear.
Tip 4 – Be Kind To Yourself
You are the essential resource that you have at the moment. Your industry knowledge, ability to think positively and those on-the-ball savvy entrepreneur skills are going to save the day.
You are terrific already in so many remarkable ways, no matter how tough shit gets, make sure you tell yourself that too.
Our most prominent critic is most often ourselves, but you can’t be so hard on yourself right now, if you are, you are going to upset your happiness, vibe and flow. Pick your self up, dust yourself off and be kind to you.
Designate at least one hour for yourself each day to do something the revitalises your spirit.
Tip 5 – Learn To Ask For Help
If we knew and understood how to do absolutely everything on our own, we would never want for anything.
Unfortunately, we don’t, and sometimes we can’t quite understand how to effectively use all the information we are shoving into our minds.
That’s a-ok. You are not alone with those unwanted feelings like being overwhelmed or uncertain. If you need to speak to counselling services, why not check out some of these:
- Beyond Blue
- LifeLine
- Headspace
If you require brand or business help and planning, book a time with me today. I am offering free mentoring for sex workers during lockdown; you can lock in a time with me here.
Tip 6 – Use Time Wisley
What a blessing it is to have all this time! I know I am catching up on so much work and tasks I have been unable to get cleared off my list. In addition to that, I am working on clearing new and existing projects like a boss.
It usually takes me about 55 hours to create an entirely new brand from scratch and get it fully functional online.
- Brand Planning – 6 hours
- Business Planning or Assessment – 5 hours
- Research – 10 hours
- Online Accounts Set Up & Optimisation – 3 hours
- SEO Keywords & Selection – 5 hours
- Full Website Copy – 10 hours
- Hosting Connection & Web Design – 15 hours
- Social Media Marketing Plan – 2 hours
= 56 hours without including a new photoshoot or creating my content for marketing
Now let’s apply that to having a month in lockdown and what you can do to start solidifying your online presence and brand.
If you put aside a little time to start working on your brand for 2 hours a day, after 30 days, your brand will be killing it!
You might not be able to reap what you sow immediately, but all the work you put in will pay out hugely later.
Use your time wisely, time is such a precious resource, and it is not often we get the ability to use so much time to better our business in such a short amount of time.
Tip 7 – New Habits and Routine
One of the most significant issues I come across as a mentor in the sex industry is this perception of many workers; They don’t need to plan, save, diversify or put in the hours bettering their business because the work is always there… cough.
Well, now it isn’t, is it?
In addition to the above many cash in and workers feel a sort of addiction to money. It’s instantly gratifying to do a task and immediately recover the reward… am I right?
The mentoring appointments currently underway each day during COVID-19, the same issues arise but none as often as these ones.
The issues of bad money habits and lack of planning are two of the primary and most considerable obstacles I have identified and raised with almost every single person.
In response, each person realises that when they are unsure, scared or when they feel put out or down, they can work and be happy. Because instant cash rewards make them instantly feel better.
So how do you break bad habits like this? First,
you need to understand the habit-forming process.
All habits proceed through four stages in the same order:
- Cue – trigger
- Craving – wanting a reward
- Response – how you get the reward
- Rewards – the end goal
During retraining of bad money habits, we need to change the cue, response and determining rewards to being set off by instant cash and being replaced with watching your savings grow. Taking the time to set up your own system to measure ongoing success and introducing KPI’s is an awesome idea.
Now is a fabulous time to retrain your mind and enact new structure to make sure you can grow your business daily and find rewards by taking your business online.
As mentioned in the above point, now you can use this time wisely to break old habits and organise new routines for yourself each day.
Another aspect of this is that many of my escort coaching clients do not have daily schedules or tasks. During their assessment, I find no regular structure in place; and because of this, they are not growing their brand to its full-throttle potential.
This is not only an observation; it is something I have done and experienced myself also. It is by no means meant as criticism to anyone. Many people, who do not work in the sex industry also have no daily planning in their business either, and it quickly becomes the main reason that you stall on success.
It is widely accepted that it takes a minimum of 21 days to break a habit and replace those with a new routine. I encourage you to restructure your day and use this time now to do so; the rewards later are far greater than those immediate cash injections.
Positive Problem Solving Summary
Learning how to adopt a positive mindset when problem-solving, such as the laws of attraction and the power of manifestation, will help you achieve your desired outcome. If you have no idea where to start and are feeling overwhelmed, try the solutions-focused approach first. This approach will inevitably resolve some of your pain points as you start your project or aim for goals in the distant future.
When solving issues that are impacting you right now, it is advised that you start by identifying the problems, risks and possible outcomes first, before you enact any changes. You also need to acknowledge the fears you have associated with making changes and then release them out of mind. Fear holds you back, and you don’t need to fear anything.
It is important to remember that you need to take care of you during this time, and that means being kind to yourself, recognising and honouring the effort you put in each day. Remember, it is ok to ask for help if you need it, asking for help is a sign of strength and not of weakness.
We might be stuck at home for a really long time, that is amazing if you can utilise and leverage this time for positive problem-solving and changes. Make sure you identify your bad habits and create a new schedule to help you achieve your business goals once the COVID-19 lockdown is over.
