Consider another true story.

Last fall, a plot to detonate liquids on a flight between England and the United States caused abrupt changes in carry-on items permitted and the length of lines at airport security gates. Television news showed hundreds of passengers throwing away water bottles, personal belongings and make-up while waiting in long queues before walking through metal detectors and sending bags through scanners.

A reporter interviewed three women at an airport. The first was upset because she had dumped a few hundred dollars of lipstick, perfume and other cosmetics into the trash. The second said that although she was inconvenienced, she wouldn’t complain too loudly because she knew that the new rules and procedures were for her safety. The third woman seemed to take the change in stride. She said, “I’ve been meaning to clean out my purse for a year. This is the perfect opportunity to do it. I’ve got half an hour [while waiting in line] to spend. The trash can is right here. And nothing else more important is going to get in the way.” And she took care of the task that had escaped her priority to-do list for a year.  

The third woman applied her appreciative intelligence to the situation. Rather than seeing the situation only as a loss of time and belongings, she saw it as an opportunity to accomplish a task. She appreciated the unlooked-for time when more pressing issues wouldn’t interrupt her. She also appreciated an important resource she needed - the trash can at hand. Connecting the elements of the situation – a purse filled with a hodgepodge of unnecessary items, 30 minutes, a trash can (that someone else would empty!) and a new rule to spur her on – she did more than simply retain a good-natured attitude. She took action, and did something that she thought would improve her day-to-day life – cleaning out and organizing her handbag.

A-Ideas don’t have to have the worldwide impact or magnitude that the founding of the Coca-Cola Company or Rotary’s polio eradication program did. Sometimes bright ideas just make a difference in our daily routines, solving smaller challenges and thereby helping us become more personally fulfilled.

Are you willing to give it a try? Next time you get stuck on a problem, ask yourself:

• How can I reframe this situation (or see it from a different angle)?
• If I look at it in a different way, what can I see that is useful?
• What is right here in front of my nose that could be applied to the situation? What could I use to generate a new outcome?