PROBLEMS, CATALYSTS OF INVENTIONS

WISDOM NUGGET: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all".

Imagine a world where there are no problems; in that kind of world, I can assure you that the word INVENTION will never exist there. All through the pages of history, we are inundated with the gallant strides of great inventors, whose inventions have made our world aglow.

 Truth be told however, in the absence of the problems that arose against humanity from time to time, the names of those inventors would never have been known. Amazingly, lots of those problems existed for so long until someone was daring enough to confront them. Those confrontations birthed great solutions, which we today refer to as inventions.

It was 1818 in France, and Louis, a boy of 9, was sitting in his father's workshop. The father was a harness-maker and the boy loved to watch his father work the leather. "Someday Father," said Louis, "I want to be a harness-maker, just like you." "Why not start now?" said the father. He took a piece of leather and drew a design on it. "Now, my son," he said, "take the hole- puncher and a hammer and follow this design, but be careful that you don't hit your hand." Excited, the boy began to work, but when he hit the hole-puncher; it flew out of his hand and pierced his eye! He lost the sight of that eye immediately. Later, sight in the other eye failed. Louis was now totally blind. A few years later, Louis was sitting in the family garden when a friend handed him a pine cone. As he ran his sensitive fingers over the cone, an idea came to him. He became enthusiastic and began to create an alphabet of raised dots on paper so that the blind could feel and interpret what was written. Thus, Louis Braille opened up a whole new world for the blind, all because of an accident!

In our key scripture above, Paul, the man who made the statement above was actually in chains, yet he calls it "light affliction". But more interestingly, he said, it is working an ETERNAL and far GREATER WEIGHT OF GLORY.

That is why the names of these great inventors will eternally be remembered, because of the problems they solved for humanity. It is popularly said that necessity is the mother of all inventions. Anthony Robbins couldn't have put it in a better light when he said, "Every problem is a gift - without problems we would not grow."

10 BENEFITS OF PROBLEMS

Wisdom Nugget: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn...


A nurse was trying to make a baby sleep at night, but her rich experience proved fruitless. The baby was crying and simply refused any incentives. She was exasperated, went to the mistress, and asked for a book from the shelf.

The mistress said, "What is it for?" The nurse said, "I often see the master sitting with a book in hand. He soon dozes off even before he starts reading. I therefore think the book will do the same trick to the baby.

Though a funny joke from the Anthology Of Chinese Humor, this story effectively communicates how problems & pressure brings out our creativity and inventive genius. When your back is to the wall and you are down on your last dime or the house is on fire and you are stuck on the last floor of the six story building, it will shock you to know how many wonderful ideas are locked up in that little brain of yours. Truth is we learn more when under pressure than when under pleasure, when under adversity than under prosperity. This what was David meant when he said "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes"

There is a legend that an ancient despot, out walking, hurt his foot upon a sharp pebble. Thereupon, he ordered his ministers forthwith to have the whole face of the earth covered with leather, that his feet might be protected.

Knowing the impossibility of carrying out that order, and knowing the dire consequences of failing, the ministers took counsel despairingly among themselves.

But one hit upon an inspired solution. After a day's secret work, he presented to the delighted monarch, not a covered world, but a pair of leather sandals.
 Truth is 'Desperate situations always birth desperate solutions"

Problems Are Opportunities, Trust Me

WISDOM NUGGET: "Out of the eater, something to eat. Out of the strong, something sweet."

Source: Photo Pin

In an economy, it would be correct to say that "problems make the world go round!" Why? You ask? Here's the answer.

When I have a problem with my car, the mechanic is paid. When I have a problem with my computer, its the tech guy that makes money. When my clients want to grow their businesses, or have difficulties achieving their most important goals, I get a call - I make money.
Thank goodness for problems!

Michael had a harrowing experience trying to secure a visa to travel abroad. He made frequent visits to the embassy several times. This was annoying as each visit was a nightmare, because he had to wait for long periods; standing in long queues that seemed endless. He was so troubled about this that during one such visit, he noticed an events rental services company close to the embassy premises. Suddenly, an idea was birthed. He simply rented some chairs, moved them to the embassy premises and began to rent them for a fee (almost three times the amount he got them) to people waiting for their turns for interview at the embassy.

Payment for a spot to sit at the embassy became a regular source of income that Michael altogether shelved the idea of leaving the country. He had birthed a business out of the frustration of standing for long hours at the embassy for a visa interview.

Going through this experience was problematic for this young man, no doubt but out of that mess had emerged "something sweet"; a legitimate money spinning venture.

The truth is that if you want to make more money, you MUST learn to love solving more and bigger problems for more people. All over the world today, people do not pay to have problems analysed; they pay to have problems solved.

It was Henri Kaiser who said, "Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." And Theodore Rubin hit the "bulls eye" when he said, "the problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem."