OPPORTUNITY HIDES IN CHAOS: CAN YOU SPOT IT?
Upgrade Your Perception & Make Disruption Your Advantage
3-Minute Read
You’ll never outperform your perception.
Two leaders. Same challenge. One calls it a disaster. The other calls it fuel.
In every situation, your perception drives your performance. Winston Churchill didn’t just manage a speech impediment; he mastered it. It forced him to write, edit, and rehearse with unmatched rigor. What others saw as a liability became his leadership advantage. You can do the same, if you upgrade your lens.
It’s your lens that determines whether you see limitations that thwart your dreams or the raw material for building them.
This week in The Grip, we expose the high cost of being problem-focused and unlock the exponential results that come when you lead through the lens of possibility. If you want to grow your impact, you don’t need to fix anything; you need to upgrade how you see.
Let’s dive in.
possibility-focused leadership
There are no problems or possibilities, only situations. Whether a situation is experienced as a problem or a possibility depends entirely on your lens.
Your lens is the unconscious filter shaping how you interpret everything: a client email, a missed goal, a team misfire, even your own doubt. It decides whether you brace for impact or scan for opportunity. One lens leaves you stuck in analysis, frustration, and blame. It’s limited to “what is.” The other gets you moving: fast, clear, and creative. It generates “what could be.”
Problem-focused leaders ask:
What’s the problem?
Why is this happening?
What’s broken?
Who’s at fault?
How do we fix it?
Possibility-focused leaders ask:
What’s the opportunity here?
What’s the resource I didn’t have before?
What new outcome could I generate from this?
What else can we create?
Who do we get to become?
This isn’t toxic positivity. It’s high-performance perception.
Being possibility-focused doesn’t mean ignoring what’s hard. It means refusing to reduce a situation to its difficulty. Rather than a reason to shrink back, it means interpreting every challenge as raw material to advance your mission.
When others see a problem, possibility-focused leaders see their next level. They’ve trained their eyes to find fuel in any situation and use it to their advantage.
Why does this matter?
Because you behave in a manner consistent with how you see.
Your perception directs everything:
Your decisions.
Your leadership.
Your results.
❌See a market shift as a threat? You’ll freeze, fight, or retreat.
✅See it as a moment to innovate? You’ll move fast and lead the change.
❌See a difficult conversation as a battle? You’ll avoid it.
✅See it as a chance for alignment? You’ll initiate it with intentionality.
Steve Jobs once said getting fired from Apple was “the best thing that could have ever happened” to him. At the time, it looked like a humiliating failure; exiled from the very company he co-founded. But Jobs used that disruption as raw material.
In the years that followed, he founded NeXT and Pixar, both wildly creative ventures that wouldn’t have been possible had he stayed. Pixar transformed animation. NeXT’s software became the foundation for macOS. Jobs leveraged his “problem” into his legacy.
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UPGRADING TO POSSIBILITY
Most leaders don’t hit walls because of circumstances but because of outdated lenses. Like an old prescription, they’re misaligned with the vision their purpose requires next. The lens that brought you here won’t take you where you need to go.
Lenses need regular upgrading, at least yearly. If you’ve plateaued, stagnated, or outgrown your current operation, it’s time for a new lens.
And that starts by deciding: I choose to see possibility.
Even in resistance.
Even in failure.
Even when nothing looks like it’s working.
Even when it’s covered in sh*t—it often is.
Once you see what you haven’t seen before, you’ll create what you haven’t created before.
Questions are one of the best ways to build new lenses. They’re instructions to your brain for what to look for. With practice, seeing through the lens of possibility becomes second nature.
Start here:
What is this challenge trying to grow in me?
What new capability, insight, or advantage might this adversity be delivering?
In what way is this happening for me, not against me?
What version of me is this calling me to become?
How can I build something now I couldn’t have built before?
What raw material is here that I can shape into something meaningful, valuable, or generative?
What’s the opportunity here for me, for us?
Also, there are experiences you’ve had throughout life—from when you were very young up until now—that have equipped you with rare and precious resources. You may not have recognized them as such before today, so take another look.
What raw materials do you already have in your possession, just waiting to help you fulfill your purpose? They’re yours for a reason. Put them to work!
“Being possibility-focused means interpreting every challenge as raw material to advance your mission.”
Ultimately, your lens defines your leadership. It decides whether resistance becomes a reason to retreat or a resource to create something extraordinary.
You’re never stuck because of a situation; only because of how you're seeing it. And that’s great news, because your lens can be upgraded.
The lens of possibility doesn’t ignore difficulty. It transforms it. Start living from that lens, and you won’t just overcome what’s in your way, you’ll use it to build more than enough of everything matters to you.
Keep creating!
key takeaways
What is the central theme of this issue of The Grip?
The power of perception in leadership: how shifting your lens from problems to possibilities can turn disruption into a strategic advantage.
How can leaders benefit from a possibility-focused mindset?
By interpreting challenges as opportunities, leaders can foster innovation, resilience, and drive exponential growth.
What practical steps are suggested for upgrading one's perception?
Regularly reassessing your perspective, asking transformative questions, and viewing adversity as raw material for advancement.
May you prosper in every way!
Becky & TPL Team
52 Maxims of Conscious Choosing To Create the Deeply Satisfying Life You Desire.