Search, Acknowledge and Solve Problems

Namaste friends and freelancers,

How have you been? I hope all is well with you. I have been very busy with the new launch of the course and promotions in the last two weeks and it had an impact on my blogging as well. But here I am, with a very interesting topic today. This is something I felt off late while working on my freelance projects and I wanted to share it with all my readers – you! As a matter of fact, I have also included it in my course on Udemy too. I will get to that in a while, but first let’s take a look at what it actually means – search, acknowledge and solve problems.

While working as a freelancer, or otherwise, we experience a lot of problems constantly. A few of them are small and we can easily ignore them; while there is a host of other problems which are big enough to show up every now and then and we cannot just overlook those.

For example, if there is a power cut and the internet gets disconnected while you are working, which is very common in India, we can easily ignore it at times and still continue to work on offline things that we have on our plate – may be, like making a PowerPoint slide or rendering a video or even writing a blog post. This is a small problem which is short-lived and does not stop our progress immensely too.

However, if I am in the middle of a call or an online session with my students and then there is a power cut which cuts me off the internet, I will go just crazy! Won’t I? Of course, I will! At that point in time, it will be impossible for me to ignore the situation and just carry on! That would be a HUGE problem, to say the least. I would be held responsible for wasting the time of all those 20-30 pupils who were logged in that time! A disaster!

Look carefully at the examples above. What do you find? Both the situations were caused by the same event – a power cut. But the effect that the two resulted in were drastically different from each other. Why? Because, the situation in which the events happened were not the same and hence, they resulted in two very different outcomes. One we could ignore very easily, but the other time, we could not – even though the event was same in both the cases. The degrees of impact was different in the two cases.

Hence, it is important for us to search for such avenues where things can get wrong and understand that a problem can be more or less devastating based on the situation it happens to emerge in. This is why searching for problems is important. If we do not search and wait for the problem to occur and then take action, then it can be too late at times. As freelancers, you may not be able to tackle or afford that as well. Look out for problems or avenues which can be problematic in future.

When you are on the lookout for problems that might occur in future, you are bound to find a few ranging from low impact to high degrees of impact. It is important to acknowledge them all. It is also a good habit to sort and prioritize them and take actions. Actions cannot be taken before acknowledging a (potential) problem as a problem. Acknowledge!

Now is the time when we take actions or take steps to solve those problems that we have searched for, identified, acknowledged and prioritized (which one to solve first). In this step, we try to solve the problem. In my case, I would get a rechargeable inverter or a UPS which I can connect to the modem so that the power supply to the modem cannot be interrupted, even when there is no power. I anyways work on my laptop, which has a battery to take care of 2-3 hours of constant load-shedding.

So, this is how you should approach while you prepare yourself for the work that you do on a daily basis. It is important to search, acknowledge and solve problems so as to cruise through the day uninterrupted by external disturbances or problems, which can divert your concentration and ability to deliver more, be more productive and manage your time better. Solve problems asap!

This topic is essentially a lecture in the opening section of my course called, Freelancing Masterclass: POWER Freelancing.

If you have not checked the course yet, click on the name of the course above. It will take you to the direct course page on Udemy. Please read the description and check out the preview videos and if you like it, do not hesitate to take it up. I would love to know if you liked it.

And yes, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you can also avail this limited period $10 coupon to get started with the course. Use this link below:

https://www.udemy.com/freelancing-masterclass-power-freelancing/?couponCode=POWER10

Have a good time ahead. I will talk to you again, soon.

Cheers!

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You may also want to check out our YouTube Channel, where we post videos with various freelancing tips and tricks, which can definitely boost your freelancing career and business! The Channel name is The Indian Freelancer and can be accessed here: www.YouTube.com/TheIndianFreelancer.

Thanks a lot,
The Indian Freelancer
Let's Learn and Grow Together!