It is important for us to be reminded that our placements in life, especially at work, are for the purpose of solving problems.

You are employed to solve a problem and when you are no longer a problem-solver, you are no longer fit for the job. Your present placement was necessitated by problems, so when you are no longer solving problems, you will naturally be on the list of those to be displaced.

The positions of life are not just meant to be occupied, they are meant to be functional. Whether you are called a manager, teacher, CEO or whatever, your rating is according to your function.

When you are no longer functioning, you are dysfunctional and would soon be tagged ‘redundant.’ So, for you to maintain relevance and remain on line, you must remain a problem solver. Your relevance is tied to the problems you are able to solve.

That is what makes you a contributor. And when you are a contributor, your worth is enhanced. With the enhancement of your worth, your value rating will change.

 A problem solver can never be ignored; a problem solver will always have a place among men because he will always be needed. A problem solver is an asset not a liability.

The Benefits of Problems

It is the problems you solve that reveal you to your world. It is what earns you recognition among men. If there were no problem in Israel, nobody would have known David.

Problems are opportunities for fame and greatness. A man is as famous as the problem he solves. It was after David killed Goliath that his status changed from a mere shepherd boy to chief of army staff and eventually to the king in Israel.

People don’t know you in your hiding place; they know you in the open place where the problems are. The problems you solve will reveal the real you. Every man is described according to the problem he solves.

 That is why you never find an ordinary name in a history book, every name in history is tied to an achievement. Think of people like Michael Faraday, in our contemporary times and Joseph, Gideon and Moses in the Bible, they were all problem solvers.

What gave them names were not their looks or appearances, but the problems they solved. You can never find an idle name in history. So, for your name to enter into history you have to be a problem solver.

If you leave where you are today, what will you be remembered for? Is it for the problems you solved or the ones you created? Wherever you find yourself, ensure that you are a problem solver and you will never need to struggle for promotion or recognition among men. Now, how do you become a problem solver?

1.    Have A Correct Perspective Of Problems!


Your number one point of victory in life is your perspective. How do you see things in life? Your perspective determines how you handle your situations. If you have a poor perspective, you will always have poor results.

Your perspective determines your control. How do you address problems? Because the problem you can’t address you will never be able to arrest. How do you see problems? Do you see problems as opposition or as opportunity? When the giant called Goliath challenged the Israelites, none could face him because they all saw him as an insurmountable opposition; only David saw him as an opportunity, so he was able to overcome him (1 Samuel 17).

When you see your problem as an opportunity, solving it becomes very cheap. Problems may, initially put you under pressure but with the right perspective you can turn it into pleasure.

 It is perspective that turns pressure into pleasure. Problems may stretch you but it will ultimately spread you. There can never be a spread without problems. That is to say, problems don’t leave you the way they met you. They either stretch or shrink you.

2.    Hunt For Ideas!

Secondly, you must always hunt for ideas. Ideas are talents or instruments for improvement. If you are full of ideas, you will always be on line of improvement.

 So, always hunt for ideas and the way to do that is to give yourself to deep and focused thinking on your job. How do I improve on my assignment? How do I handle this situation? How can I gain speed and time in my assignment? How do I make this and that to function? There are no dull brains; there are only unused, unutilized brains.

Every man’s brain can function - God never made a useless brain! We have heard stories of people who were once described as complete dullards; but when they decided to wake up and instigate their brains, ideas began to flow.

How much use you put your brain to is what determines what comes out of it. So put your brain to work. Break through that barrier that tells you, you are not smart enough or that you can’t make it. Breakthrough! You are full of ideas, you are full of inspirations. There are many resources in your brain that you can bring out to add to what you are doing.

Keep thinking! It will amaze you that ideas are so close at the corner but until you give your mind to it you don’t lay hold on them.  

3. You Need Fortitude
The third thing you require to do to be a problem solver is fortitude. What is fortitude? Fortitude is inner strength.

It is the conviction that the challenge before you can be handled, and not just that it can be dissolved but that you can be the one to get it done. Fortitude is ‘stay power.’ You stay on till the result comes out. Most people get tired too soon. They give up too soon and begin to console themselves by saying,

“I have tried.” When I hear a man say, “I have tried my best”, it reveals to me his lack of fortitude. A genuine worker will never commend himself until the problem is solved. Above all, when you tell him, “Well done” before the job is completed, he is not comfortable because he feels he hasn’t done what he ought to do, so what are you greeting him for? If people greet you ‘well done’ for what you have not done well, they are only mocking you. So, beware of such greetings.

You need fortitude to look at a problem and say, “No, this problem must be solved!” Sit down and start thinking! Document the ideas that come to you and start taking practical steps. That is fortitude! You need such inner strength to be able to keep on pushing at the mountain before you, until it gives way.

4. You Must Press On!
Those who are weary will never wear the crown. Those who give up will never go into the next phase of life.

 Ironically, they give up at the eve of their going in. The closer you are to your breakthrough, the higher the pressure. That is why you must be determined to press on. The Holy Bible talking of Gideon and his men when they were in pursuit of the Midianite kings that had oppressed Israel for so many years, said

“…He, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing…” (Judges 8:4). Even when you are fainting, keep pursuing. Most people give up too soon, that is why they never make a mark.

Talking of Jesus also, the Bible says, “…Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2). He was stumbling and falling under the weight of the cross yet Jesus pressed on. The difference between excellence and good is fortitude. Don’t stop where others have stopped, stay on! Don’t commend yourself the way others commend themselves.

Don’t peg yourself to a particular spot by saying, “I have tried.” Remove that phrase completely from your vocabulary and replace it with, “This problem can be solved and it must be solved!”

5. Go The Extra Mile! There is the story of a great scientist called Albert Einstein.
 He had a very large laboratory, and one day, it got burnt. Rather than become discouraged, he rose up and built another one.

 When Jesus was told that John the Baptist had been killed, He went to the next village to preach. John was very precious to Him, but He couldn’t stay there and allow people to start consoling Him because that might distract Him from His assignment. No matter what is happening around you now, don’t wear out too soon

The difference between a worker who is watching and waiting for the closing time and the one who stays beyond the time is fortitude. And you discover that those who spend extra time are the ones who solve problems.

Only those who go the extra mile make an extra mark in life. Fortitude is the trade secret of problem solvers; those who will not sleep until the problem is solved. You need fortitude, you need extra input to become extraordinary.

If you don’t want to be a burden in life, if you don’t want to become a liability, then you must be an asset. Be a problem solver. Be blessed!

Pastor Israel Etimis the senior pastor of Winners Chapel International, The Gambia. He can be contacted on : 9917917 or 4461577