What’s Working? - Grasshopper

Have you ever noticed how good we are at explaining what’s not working in our lives?

I mean . . . we can list it. In detail. To anyone within earshot.

And the funny thing is – that’s a great way to keep what’s not working . . .  working.
 
But there’s a little interrupt you can use.
Two words. What’s working?

When you feel yourself sinking into the details of what’s broken . . . when your mind starts stacking up evidence for “woe is me” . . . just stop and ask:
What’s working?

That question gives your mind a new assignment.
Instead of scanning for limitations, it starts scanning for assets.

And once it finds one thing that’s working? There are offshoots. Connections. Possibilities.

It’s like brainstorming. One idea breeds another.

If you’re stuck in dead ends, you don’t need a bulldozer. You need a signpost.
What’s working?

That question takes me back to the 1980s.

Every year, no matter where we were living, we took the same vacation. Jersey shore. Pack up the kids, the dog, the luggage, some food . . . cram it all into the station wagon . . . and go.

It’s what we could afford.

But I wanted to take the boys to Disney World. They were at that perfect age. The magic would’ve filled their souls.

Problem was . . . it was “too expensive.” At least, that’s what I had decided.

My mind was full of all the reasons it wouldn’t work. Flights. Hotels. Tickets. Food. Impossible.

Then I shifted the question. Instead of “Why can’t we?” I asked, “How could we?”

I called a travel agent. Told her what I wanted. She came back with a five-day, four-night package to Disney World.

And here’s the part that floored me – It cost no more than our annual Jersey trip.

We went.

And that trip? We still talk about it.

“What could work” starts with noticing what is working. It activates that mindset.

It pulls you out of the mental rut of “can’t be done” and into the territory of workable options.

Teach your mind to search for what’s working.

It’s a small shift. But it opens doors you didn’t even know were there.