I often think about the reasons why some people are more successful than others. Being motivated to achieve success as you define it, making the right choices and following through with the required amount of discipline are key ingredients to a winning formula. Another is to understand the Power of Reframing, especially when you feel the chips are down. Reframing involves changing your perspective on a situation to see it differently and potentially more positively.
Reframing is about shifting how you interpret events, ideas, and emotions, rather than necessarily changing the facts themselves. This shift can lead to greater resilience, improved mental health, and a more empowered mindset. I don’t know about you, but given what I have just shared, I think it’s certainly a topic worth exploring further…
1. Reframing “Conflict as Good”
In my previous article, I finished with the quote from Marcus Aurelius, who said: “Conflict is an opportunity for growth and self-discovery”. This is somewhat counterintuitive, because how can something that we typically label as a threat be good? Well, that is where we make the mistake regarding conflict – our point of departure should not be that conflict is a threat, assuming that we refer to conflict in a day-to-day business or personal life sense versus war. Remember, without our willingness to participate in conflict, there cannot be any conflict.
“Conflict cannot survive without your participation.”
– Wayne Dyer
If we are willing to engage in conflict with a calm, negotiation mindset, though, we might just find that we could gain better insights that might even change our way of viewing or doing things in a good way. However, if we don’t learn by practising how to manage conflict, then, like any hard skill, we won’t get better at it to a point where we can benefit from it, after reframing it.
2. Reframing “Adversity as Growth ”
With possibly the exception of losing a loved one, tough times make us harder and more equipped to handle the challenges of life. Think about the tough times you had in your life, and if you came out on the other side stronger or weaker… Even though we only want to sail smoothly through life, this is the silver lining of having to endure the suffering of tough times – we become stronger and grow as a result.
“There is no education like adversity.”
– Benjamin Disraeli
3. Reframing “Failure as Experience”
In the 1920s, a journalist asked Thomas Edison how it felt to fail 1000 times in his attempt to invent the incandescent lightbulb. He replied, “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The lightbulb was an invention with 1000 steps.” Talking about reframing… Steve Jobs also faced several significant setbacks in his life, including being fired from Apple, the commercial failure of NeXT, and product launches like the Apple III and Apple Lisa. Despite these, he used these experiences to learn and grow, eventually leading to Apple’s resurgence.
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up”
– Thomas Edison
Even when we do fail, we have to admit that through this perceived negative experience, we have gained exactly that – experience, but in a way that will make us stronger and wiser going forward. Besides, many times in life we realised that in hindsight the “failure” actually led us to a place where we prospered.
4. Reframing “Change as Opportunity”
I live on the west side of Johannesburg and prefer to travel from Lanseria Airport when flying to Durban or Cape Town. It’s close by, quick, neat and convenient. Before the biggest change took place on a global scale in the form of COVID-19, I had two airline options available to me – Kulula or Mango. After the pandemic, they failed to exist, and now we only have one option: FlySafair.
“When there’s change, there’s opportunity.”
– Jack Welch
There are other reasons for this change in airline options, but I would submit that the most significant reason for FlySafair being catapulted to where they are currently from a local marketshare point of view is simply because of seeing an opportunity where most companies perceived the pandemic as a threatening change. Even though this is an example at the business or company level, many examples exist of the same phenomenon that took place on a personal level.
5. Reframing “Innovation as Imperative”
If we, on a personal and business level, view innovation as optional, then we’ll stagnate and, compared to everyone else, simply go backwards in life. This might lead to our demise in many ways. In business, we need to innovate to stay ahead of the competition and to grow our market share. On a personal level, we need to embrace innovation in the way we do things to cope with the challenges that life throws at us, let alone prosper.
“Innovation no longer remains a choice but has become an imperative.”
– Narendra Modi
6. Reframing “Diversity as Competitive Advantage”
The concept of Diversity is often misunderstood as being the colour of our skin… It is so much more and includes things like our religion, gender, culture, sexual orientation, education, disability, language, age and socioeconomic status. If we don’t embrace the wider concept of diversity, we will prohibit ourselves from access to a wealth of alternative ideas to address any challenge that we might be faced with. Conversely, if we surround ourselves with people who look, feel and think differently from us, then we are well on our way to using diversity as a competitive advantage.
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
7. Reframing “Busyness as Privilege”
One night before switching off the lights as we went to bed, I gave a serious sigh. When Marilé asked me what was wrong, my response was: “I am just só busy…” She then replied by saying, “The jobless will be envious of your busy schedule.” In that moment, the penny dropped and I realised that I had no reason to complain and that I should rather shift my focus to how I deal with my busyness. Living in a country and on a continent with such high unemployment figures, I think we should reframe busyness as privilege if we are employed…
When we talk about using the power of reframing to our advantage, we are not implying that we need to be unrealistic. Instead, it is about adopting a mindset of possibility and renewal to yield the best possible results, despite our realities.
“Our key to transforming anything lies in our ability to reframe it.”
– Marianne Williamson
My challenge to you is to add many more examples of Reframing than what I have given you. I wish you all the best and success in using the Power of Reframing in all areas of your life, for your benefit and the benefit of those people around you.
Author Dr. Hekkie van der Westhuizen shares practical self-leadership tips, tools and interventions in the form of stepping stones that will assist you along the journey to becoming the best possible version of yourself.
R230.00
