Turning You Problems into You Solutions

Sounds like a “you problem”. The best advice I’ve received during my time in the Channel. This advice came from Rob Rae. If you are in the Channel, you do not need the introduction. If not, picture Ferris Bueller giving the perfect TED Talk. The most polished speaker, but cool enough on stage to check on his chickens from his net cam phone.

In my 20 years in the professional space, I’ve felt accountability decays every year you get older. It seems things aren’t your fault regardless if they truly are. You find buckets to place blame or shield yourself with excuses when things don’t go as you planned. That mentality is paralyzing. Surviving rather than producing, excusing over creating, a security blanket instead of an open roof.

The advice is simple and probably more of an observation. Maybe that’s where the lesson lies, an objective observation of oneself, more like a paradigm shift in self-awareness. Presenting every week on a different stage, I feel like I’m exposed more than ever. However, what I find fascinating is that my coworker’s message is the same, our deliveries cannot be more different. I own my delivery, and I own the accolades but what I failed to own was the accountability when something went rogue. I’m not talking about a Jack Daniels session by disciplining myself with my favorite pastime (oh the irony there) but trudging through the ego bruise and reevaluating.

A “you problem” can be very hidden, something you don’t want to address but suppress. It is easy to quote Popeye and fall back on “I am what I am,” and work around it with the expectations that others will work around it too.  A “you problem”must be identified whether it’s from within or even if it’s masked in critique. Giving someone a microphone to talk on stage for 45 minutes to a room full of experts is one way to find your strengths and weaknesses, but it is also an opportunity.

Overcome your roadblocks by creating a different road, don’t accept adversity but address it, and by then you can turn “you problems” into “you solutions.”