27 Quotes to Change How You Think About Problems

Great minds give you the benefit of their experience.

It happens to even the most seasoned of entrepreneurs. You’ve built momentum for your latest project, you’re excited to embrace new challenges and you’ve visualized success at the end of the road.

But all of a sudden an unexpected problem stops you dead in your tracks -- and this one seems impossible to solve.

Yes, major hurdles are disheartening, and they’re often unavoidable. But the way you engage with and think about problems directly influences your ability to solve them.

Here’s how some of the world’s smartest people think about problems and how you can learn to overcome them.

1. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
2. “Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” – Robert H. Shuller
3. “All problems become smaller when you confront them instead of dodging them.” – William F. Halsey
4.  “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin
5. “Sometimes problems don’t require a solution to solve them; Instead they require maturity to outgrow them.” – Steve Maraboli
6. “Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow” – Tony Robbins
7. “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Soren Kierkegaard
8. “If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?” – Shantideva
9. “It isn’t that they cannot find the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem.” – G.K Chesterton
10. “Problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity” – Gerhard Gschwandtner
11. “We fail more often because we solve the wrong problem than because we get the wrong solution to the right problem.” – Russell L. Ackoff
12. “A positive attitude may not solve your problems -- but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Anonymous
13. “Running away from a problem only increases the distance from the solution.” – Anonymous
14. “Problem-solving leaders have one thing in common: a faith that there’s always a better way.” – Gerald M. Weinberg
15. “Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.” – Rene Descartes
16. “Your ability to solve problems and make good decisions is the true measure of your skill as a leader.” – Brian Tracy
17. “If you are unable to understand the cause of a problem, it is impossible to solve it.” – Naoto Kan
18. “A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” – Duke Ellington
19. “Giving up is the most painful way of solving a problem.” – Anonymous
20. “Instead of thinking out the box, get rid of the box.” – Deepak Chopra
21.  “Solving problems means listening.” – Richard Branson
22. “Inside of every problem lies an opportunity.” – Robert Kiposaki
23. “There is no problem outside of you that is superior to the power within you.” – Bob Proctor
24. “You can increase your problem-solving skills by honing your question-asking ability.” – Michael J. Gelb
25. “Don’t bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.” – Colin Powell
26. “If a problem can be solved it will be. If it cannot be solved there is no use worrying about it.” – Dalai Lama XIV
27. “All life is problem solving.” – Karl Popper  

-Daniel Marlin