These Three Things Revolutionized My Problem Solving Skills
This was written for my newsletter “The Positive Note” yesterday (with some rewording) and I think it can be helpful for people who struggle with problems. This is how I dealt with a recent problem and because it worked so well, I will continue using it.
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Last month, I asked my employer for a raise with all the work I’ve been doing for him and he agreed to it.
I was thinking everything went well, until he suddenly asked me what was with my most recent bill I sent him. He was wondering why I was charging the price that I did and apparently he didn’t agree with it, despite agreeing with it just last month.
The problem got larger when he explained he was underpaying me as well for what we initially agreed on. That happened because I made a mistake to not include the price of each article in my invoices until my most recent bill.
I relied on what we discussed prior to being enough and didn’t think it was necessary until now for some reason.
Under most circumstances, most would be reasonably upset. They would ultimately paint my employer to be at fault for everything. And though I clearly made a mistake it’s not as serious as underpaying what two parties agreed to.
And though I felt tempted to do that — after all I’ve been working with my employer for a few months now — I didn’t.
Instead, what I did was something different and that revolutionized my problem-solving skills.
First, I Paused
No doubt I was frustrated.
After working with my employer for a few months it came to light that he clearly didn’t pay me what we originally agreed upon.
Furthermore, he has mistaken my ask for a raise despite me clearly stating it and him agreeing to it. Not to mention he failed to let me know that my raise would create a loss on his end until this day.
But instead of letting that frustration get to me I paused and looked at the situation. Instead of letting my emotions get the best of me, I…
