5 Reasons Why Problems Should Be Welcomed

5 min readAug 11, 2018

Life would be a whole lot easier if we didn’t have problems, right?

Not having problems would mean less stress, things or projects would get done a lot quicker and life would be so much simpler.

What if we could look at problems from a different perspective? Rather than trying to get rid or problems, what if we started to welcome problems? If we did that, could it actually help us?

I remember an issue we had with a production line while I was in my corporate management role many years ago. That particular line was having all sort of quality issues which resulted in high levels of waste being produced plus it affected the amount of good product we could produce. As a result, customer orders were often late which led to many customer complaints including one of our major customers threatening to go to another supplier.

As we didn’t want to run overtime for extended periods to meet demand, it forced us to look at different ways to address the problem such as completely changing the layout of the line and doing a major overhaul of the equipment.

Although it took time and a lot of effort, the end result was that the line actually ran better than it ever had plus we were able to comfortably meet all customer demand. In the end, the line was running so well that we even eliminated the second shift on that line, which ended being a major cost saving.

Rather than trying to avoid or resist problems, if we start to welcome them, we can actually learn a lot from those problems and use it to our benefit.

Here are five reasons to welcome problems that can result in us improving how we do things or providing a better product or service.

1. Problems are a sign of life. The people who don’t have problems are usually those who are dead. Having problems means we are making progress or attempting something new or different. Problems indicate that we are venturing into unfamiliar territory. Therefore actually having problems may be an exciting phase to be in.

2. For every problem, there must be a solution. There is a universal law which we should become aware of and that is the law of opposites, also known as the law of polarity. This law indicates that everything has an opposite, like up and down, night and day, inside and outside, hot and cold, etc.

Oftentimes, whenever we have a problem, it can seem daunting and insurmountable. But the truth is, if we have a problem, there must be a solution because one cannot exist without the other, as per the law of opposites. It is up to us to find out the solution and work through the problem.

3. Problems indicate things can be improved. Often, problems are providing us with feedback that things are not quite right and either can be or need to be improved. Health-related issues are a great example.

Whenever we have an illness, it is our body’s way of providing us feedback that something is not quite with that part or function in our body and it must be addressed. Therefore, illness is often the path to the solution that is required by our body to get back to optimal health.

4. Problems are often a blessing in disguise. Having problems can be viewed as an invitation to learn something, grow and transform as a person. In the book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote, “Every failure (or problem) brings with it the seed of an equivalent advantage.” Therefore the bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity for something better.

5. Your income is in direct proportion to what type of problems you can solve. In short, the larger the type of problems you can solve, the more you can get paid to solve those problems.

For example, someone like Bill Gates is able to handle much bigger problems than you and I, hence he is one of the richest man in the world. The highest paid consultants, coaches or business people in the world are the ones who typically can solve much larger problems.

Problems should not be resisted or avoided because as the saying goes, what you resist, persists. Rather than wishing for things to be easier, wish that you were better at dealing with whatever comes your way.

Problems can be a springboard for us to start learning new things, trying different approaches and changing our mindset around how we view problems. So start looking for more problems.

Question: What is another reason why problems should be welcomed?

You can leave a comment by clicking here.