Continued from Part 4

OK – so you’re worried. Your last effort didn’t work out the way you’d hoped. You’re back to square one. Now what??? This last of five optimistic approaches to unfuddling your brain will help you figure it out.

Martha Beck, Life Coach advises: If you make the wrong choice – Try Som’n Else. When you’re beset by too many “what ifs” in your life, Try Som’n Else.

Right now, (or later if you must) take pen and paper, find a comfy, quiet place to sit and write, perhaps put some upbeat music on your i-Pod and start brainstorming as many “som’n else” ideas as you can think of. And remember, the secret to brainstorming is to write down EVERYTHING… even the bad ideas.

What’s Good About This Idea?

After you have your list, for each item, ask yourself, “what’s good about this idea?” For instance, once when I was leading a customer service brainstorming session, a representative listed “transfer the irate caller to the ‘ring-no-answer-line’.” In other words, let the already angry customer listen to the ringing, ringing, ringing of a telephone line that would never be answered because it didn’t connect to a phone! Yes, this was a really BAD idea!

So Where’s the Goodness?

Well, the goodness was that the exasperated rep’ got a breather from dealing with the irascible customer. The next question we asked was “How could we accomplish this goodness WITHOUT ticking off the angry customer?” Trust me, the reps found several MUCH better ways to get a breather without instigating more aggravation! They just needed a clue – the goodness in the bad idea – to sleuth out better solutions.

What Did Your Brainstorm Reveal?

Which of your brainstorm ideas revealed goodness clues to help you identify your Som’n Else? Just because your last choice didn’t work out doesn’t mean the next one will flop. Practice your resilience: Try Som’n Else – and let us know how it works for you.

To Wrap Up This Series on What Next…

We’ve offered you five ways to figure out:

• What do you want to do?
• How can you move toward that goal?

An Invitation

If you haven’t already given these tactics a try, do it now. Pick one and proceed!

1. Make small decisions and see where they lead – follow your intuition.
2. Take a Blue-Sky-Break: suspend fear and embrace impossible possibilities.
3. Pack Your Bags before you know your destination – discover your true intentions.
4. Force your hand with the Paired Comparison tool – learn what matters to you now.
5. When all else fails, “Try Som’n Else” – get into action!

And then, let us know – what have you discovered about what you want to do now, next, and then?