Tackling Problems
Tackling a problem productively can be difficult, but it gets results! This module will help you figure out how to best approach challenging situations.
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” -- Jimmy Dean
Top Tips
✓ Ask yourself if this is your problem. Some problems just don’t belong to you! Recognize that you do not need to tackle everyone else’s challenges for them.
✓ Avoid avoidance. Running away or hiding from a problem is often a tempting response, but it rarely solves anything, and can sometimes even make things worse.
✓ Recognize your excuses. If you identify the excuses you use to avoid a problem, you can catch yourself when these thoughts appear.
✓ Control your actions. While you can't always control your problems, you can control how you react to them.
✓ Find a new route. Some obstacles are immovable...but if you can’t go through, go around.
✓ Keep your eye on the prize. Remind yourself why you want to accomplish your goals or overcome your problems.
✓ Spread the word. Telling a mentor or a friend about what you hope to achieve may make you feel accountable, and make you more likely to achieve it.
Introduction to tackling problems
Things you can’t control:
Things you can control:
Your response to all of the above.
While it’s perfectly normal to experience frustration, anger, and sadness, part of resilience is the ability to deal with problems productively.
Example
You’re on a road trip with your best friend when you hit an unexpected roadblock. Do you…
Turn back home?
Blame your co-passenger?
Yell at the roadblock until you’re so tired you need to take a nap in your car?
Take charge and find a new route?
Chances are, you picked option 4; it’s the only useful solution. But not every situation in life is this obvious, so this module will help you with tackling problems directly.
Passive and active coping
There are two main ways of dealing with a problem:
Passive coping: when you either ignore a situation or act in ways unlikely to help.
Active coping: when you take steps towards solving a problem or improving a situation.
Active coping is generally a much more successful strategy for tackling problems.
For example:
At the end of class, Maria is handed back her midterm exam and sees a big, red 47% at the top of the page. She studied hard, so she’s surprised and disappointed she did so poorly.
Two different ways Maria can approach the situation:
Passive Coping:
Blinking back tears, Maria walks straight out of the classroom. She spends the entire evening calling her professor names, eating cookie dough and watching Netflix.
In the above scenario, Maria uses passive coping strategies, reacting to her disappointment by taking actions unlikely to result in any positive change.
Active Coping:
Blinking back tears, Maria takes a few deep breaths. After class, she’s still feeling pretty upset, so she goes for a run -- she knows that always makes her feel better. When Maria gets home, she emails her professor, asking him for a meeting to get more feedback on her midterm. This way, she can figure out what specific content she is a misunderstanding, and how she can improve.
Here, Maria uses active coping strategies, taking action to improve her situation.
The ADAPT Model of active coping
Watch this video (The Learning Portal Ontario, 2017) to learn about how to deal with a problem using the ADAPT Model of Active Coping.
If you don’t know how to deal with a problem, try the ADAPT Model of Active Coping. This model provides a helpful guide to think about how to best deal with a situation.
Attribution
Unless otherwise stated, the material in this guide is from the Learning Portal created by College Libraries Ontario. Content has been adapted for the NWP Learning Commons in June 2021. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY NC SA 4.0 International License.
All icons on these pages are from The Noun Project. See individual icons for creator attribution.