Stuck? Try shifting the Context

Consider this…

Sometimes, when we are trying to find a way through a problem, there seems to be no clear path, no apparent solution. No matter which aspects of the problem we focus on, we just can’t seem to find a way forward.

This is when the notion of Content vs Context can come in handy. Rather than focusing on the components of the problem (the Content), consider the Context within which you're viewing them. It’s like a double-sided jigsaw puzzle we had when we were young. One side would bring the pieces together to display a complicated design. If you put the puzzle pieces together on the opposite side, they would form a much simpler picture. The actual pieces (the Content) didn’t change. It was the Context (the picture) that changed.

I was recently helping someone decide whether she should accept one of two different jobs she had been offered, or continue working as an independent consultant. When she explained it all to me, it was clear that she was really struggling with which path to choose. We could have spent a long time examining the Content—the pros and cons of each job (salary, prospects, status, etc.)—but instead we spent time talking about her WHY. Our WHY acts as the overarching Context for our life. She realised that one of the choices gave her a much better way to bring her WHY to life than the other options. All of a sudden, the answer was staring her in the face. By focusing on her WHY, she was able to very quickly see what she needed to do.

When faced with a seemingly intractable problem, try thinking about it in a different Context.

Thinking about a problem in a different Context might mean seeing a situation from another’s perspective, or interpreting choices through the Context of our WHY. The pieces of the problem will remain the same, yet we will often get to see them in a different way—and this might just open up possibilities we hadn’t previously considered.