What Are You Allowing Your Problems to Create?

We have been talking all things leadership, communication and connection. Leadership skills are important to learn connection skills are crucial to learn. We are all connecting or can or we're at least communicating. The magic happens when we start to connect. And we are all leaders, we are all leading someone, we lead ourselves. We lead our families we lead our friends, we are all leading someone whether or not you work in a company where you have an executive position or not, you are a leader. So we're working on these skills. And how we handle problems is a huge leadership skill. It's a huge personal growth skill.

My question for you today is What are you allowing your problems to create in your life. I came across a story a couple of days ago, and I've heard this story many times. But this time, it really got into my head. Sometimes we hear things over and over again. But then it suddenly connects on a deeper level. And so I'm going to bring this story to you. I'm actually going to read it to you in the book that I am reading the book is from it's from the Maxwell daily reader. And I don't even know how old this book is. I have been working through it. Probably this is my fifth time. And it's just a daily reader small readings. And this reading is from September 15. And I'm going to read it to you the way that it is written here. Because this really got into my head this time. Problems can advance you not do your problems advance you or will they or how can they it's that they can problems can advance you. A young woman was complaining to her father about her problems and how difficult her life was. Can you relate to that?

I can, I can't tell you how many times I picked up the phone and called my dad or my mom and started just all about the awful things, my job and what was going on and you know, my shirt ripped and my car broke down and my poor parents, I probably they probably did it to their parents, but I know I did it to mine so I could immediately relate back to the story. Come with me, he said, I want to show you something. He took her into the kitchen, where he put three pots of water on the stove to heat.

Meanwhile, he cut up some carrots and put them in the first pot to boil into the simmering water. In the second pot, he put two eggs. In the third pot, he poured some ground coffee. After a few minutes, he strain the carrots in one bowl, peel the eggs and put them into another and into a cup. He poured the strain to coffee. Then he placed them before his daughter. Now, can you imagine the look on the daughter's face. So here she goes to her dad, and she's complaining to him about all the stuff that's going wrong in her life. And without a word, he takes her into the kitchen and puts three pots of water on to boil. He peels some carrots, he gets out a couple of eggs and some coffee grounds. And he puts them into the three pots one by one and he's all saying a word to her. Now, I don't know about you.

But I would be thinking that it was the time to maybe start questioning my dad's mental wellness. I would have been impatient, I would have been angry I might have left. But I certainly would have spoken up and been saying, What are you doing here? I need some advice. Or at the very least I need you to come over and commiserate with me and tell me how awful my life is.

I have a right to feel this way. So the father just sets about doing what he's doing with these three pots of boiling boiling water and the carrots, eggs and coffee. And this is what the daughter so So what's all this supposed to mean? She asked somewhat impatiently, somewhat impatiently, I would have been bouncing off the walls with anger. I'm just saying. This is what the father says. Each of these items can teach us something about the way we handle adversity, he answered. The carrot started out hard with the boiling water turn the mushy. The eggs went into the water fragile but came out hard and rubbery. The coffee, on the other hand, changed the water into something better. Sweetheart, he said, you can choose how you will respond to your problems. You can let them make you weak, you can let them make you hard. Or you can use them to create something beneficial. It's all up to you. Let me read that again. You can choose how you will respond to your problems. You can let them make you weak, you can let them make you hard, or you can use them to create something beneficial and it is all up to you.

So what will you make out of your problems today? Will you allow the problems to become mushy? Or will you allow your salt? Will you allow your soft nature to become hard? Or will you let those problems create something even better in your life? Will you allow your problems to advance you? Will you allow your problems to stretch you and grow you? Will you begin to look for solutions and find something so amazing on the other side of the adversity that you wouldn't you know you would have never found it if you hadn't been forced into finding it. Sometimes our problems are put in our way to stretch us so that we find the greatness on the other side. It's our responsibility to let our problems advance us. What is it a choice that only you can make for yourself? So will you be carrots? In the boiling water? Will you be eggs in the boiling water? Or will you be coffee in the boiling water? That is your journal prompt today? Are you carrots, eggs or coffee? And if you don't like your answer, how will you begin to change it? What will your next step be? Are you carrot eggs or coffee? When adversity hits you?

The boiling water is the adversity. Only you can determine how you're coming out of that water.

Focus on the solutions. Let the adversity advance you in all ways. True leaders go through the fire and calm out shining light gold. Are you carrots? Are you eggs? Or are you coffee?