The solution is in the problem

Don’t despair when you are faced with a question that seems to have no answer. There’s a way out. Start looking at the crisis itself.

When Alton Bell was a freshman at Southern Illinois University, he enrolled in a math course that proved tougher than expected. Two days before a major “plane trigonometry” exam, he faced another pressure point. On the same day of the math exam, he also had a 2,000-word original essay due for English Composition 101.

Alton had a flash of inspiration. He began writing an English paper on “Plane Trigonometry Made Plain.” In the most straightforward language possible, he explained how astronomers, navigators and surveyors use ratios to compute the relations between the sides of a right triangle. Even Alton could understand it! He got an A on the theme and a B on the test.

His math dilemma became his answer for writing – and even better, it was his math solution, too.

Yes, the problem may be your solution.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Life is a mixture of trophies and tragedies. It is not always smooth sailing.

Behind the seemingly overwhelming circumstance lies an opportunity waiting to be explored.

Consider the following:

Great talents overcome great problems

One of the great masterpieces of classical music is Handel’s Messiah. Individuals have marveled at its beauty for nearly 250 years. And yet Handel composed this masterpiece five years after he had suffered from a life-threatening heart attack.

Pablo Picasso didn’t have health problems but severe money problems early in his career. When he was a young, unknown painter struggling to make ends meet, he was often forced to burn his paintings in the fireplace to keep warm.

Mozart also struggled to make ends meet early in his career. At one point, he was so poor that he couldn’t even afford to buy wood to heat the shabby little room where he lived. During the winter, he wrapped his hands in woolen socks as he composed the music that would make him great. His early years of poverty weakened his immune system and made him especially susceptible to diseases, and as a result, he caught tuberculosis and died before his 36th birthday.

We’ve all failed many times! We all fell when we first walked. We all nearly drowned when we first tried to swim. We all fell off the bike the first time without training wheels. We have all mispronounced words we were learning for the first time – and sometimes we still do.

Did you know that R. H. Macy failed seven times before his first department store became a success? And now anybody who has visited New York would marvel at the sign that says Macy’s – The World’s Largest Department Store during its time.

Did you know that English novelist John Creasey received 753 rejection slips before publishing his first 564 books? Did you know baseball legend Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times along the way to hitting 714 runs? The concern shouldn’t be for failure. The problem should be for the opportunities missed when we don’t try. Just as an athlete trains to improve his performance level, the walls of adversity we confront provide life training.

The game is not over. What may seem a failure now might be a victory in disguise.

This is why when young workers today are given hard assignments and have not even given their best and tried to conquer the situation, their favorite often-heard expression is: “This job is not for me.” I just kind of smiled and gave them a little pep talk, hoping they would have the tenacity to conquer their hardship and win. There cannot be a breakthrough when there is a breakdown at the start of the situation.

Don’t give up. The game is not over yet.

In the eyes of the world, when Jesus was hanging on the Cross, he looked like a failure, yet the Resurrection three days later proved otherwise.

Don’t give up.

(Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms).