Looking for solutions is not like shopping for clothes. It’s not about staring at a rack and picking out the color and style we like. Sometimes the solution is something that has never been tried, or looks nothing like we expect it to. It’s a very creative process that works best when we are deeply open to all kinds of possibilities.

For inspiration, read this short story about a NC middle-school principal. As a young teacher, she was struck by an experience she had helping kids prepare for an open-house night for parents. With all that the kids did to clean their desks and make the classroom ready for parents, she will never forget how she felt when not one parent showed up that night. She began to see that getting kids engaged in their own education and getting parents interested was going to take a new kind of solution. Now as a principal, she has found a way.

Sometimes those solutions can be spontaneous. Like this story that transformed an ordinary morning commute on a New York City subway into something extraordinary. Faced with a car full of hateful graffiti, strangers bonded instantly to do something positive. You can read the story here.

What solutions will you create? The biggest barriers to solving problems are often wrapped up in the victim mentality. It happens when we focus too much on what’s wrong and waste precious energy wishing it were different. Experiment with focusing on what’s possible next time we’re faced with what’s wrong and get creative. Successfully discovering creative solutions is not just fun, it keeps us inspired. At TRP Enterprises, Inc. we are having fun creating new training programs to keep the inspiration going. Stay tuned for more as we debut our new program this month on Managing Change.