Solution-focused well-being: part 1

There are two things that have made a huge difference to my life over the past 10 years. The first (no surprise to regular blog readers!) was getting a PVR so that I never miss an episode of Home and Away! The other is ‘solution-focused thinking’. When I worked for a local authority school improvement team, we were all trained in SFT and it has been the most useful course I have ever been on – professionally and personally. Although already quite positive and optimistic, I found this course taught me how a series of simple questions and tools can help even the trickiest situations, especially when you are ‘stuck’. So I thought I would share some of those with you over the next few weeks.

The first question, which can feel like the most difficult, can be asked in any situation where you feel you’re not making any progress, and where you might be caught up in perpetual moaning. (So often, we ask other people, “What’s up?” or “What’s the problem?” – which could help to exacerbate things and fuel the problem fire.)

Ask yourself: “What would I like instead?”

The beauty of this question is that there is no ‘right’ answer, it doesn’t allow you to get entrenched in the problem, and it can really move you on from old ways of thinking. Try not to think negatively at this point (“Oh, that will never happen, because of x, y, z…”). Instead, free up your thinking and have fun with what things could look like when viewed another way. Use positive language – “I would like instead…” – and see where it takes you! Let me know how you get on.
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Next week: more well-being fun with the miracle question!