In one of his most practical episodes, George Wright III walks through pillar number five of his 12 Prosperity Pillars: the principle of focusing on solutions. It sounds simple, but most people spend the majority of their mental energy fixed on the problem rather than the path forward. Shifting that focus is not just a motivational idea. It is a trainable habit that changes the way your brain works.
If you have ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure which direction to go, this episode gives you a concrete framework for getting your mind working for you instead of against you.
Why Your Perception of Problems Is the Real Obstacle
Before you can solve anything, you have to look honestly at how you are perceiving the problem. George's central point is that it is rarely the problem itself that stops you. It is the meaning you attach to it.
He uses a football game as the illustration. One play on the field can be an incredible moment for one team's fan and a devastating one for the other. The event is identical. The meaning is completely different. Your mind works the same way with the challenges in your life. The meaning you assign to a situation determines whether your brain shifts into problem-solving mode or shuts down.
Step one is becoming aware of that process. You get to choose what a problem means, and that choice has enormous consequences.
How You View Success and Failure Changes Everything
Another perception shift George highlights is the relationship between success and failure. Many people treat failure as something to be avoided at all costs, a signal that they are on the wrong path. That view keeps them stuck.
Unsuccessful people always want their problems to be smaller. And successful people, driven people, want to be bigger than their problems.
When you begin to see failure as a stepping stone rather than a dead end, you stop being held back by it. Problems, in this light, are not interruptions to your growth. They are the mechanism of your growth. Just as muscles need stress and recovery to develop, your character and capability need challenges to expand. The goal is not to have fewer problems. The goal is to become someone who is bigger than their problems.
Can Problems Actually Be a Good Thing?
George poses the question directly: can problems be a good thing? His answer is yes, provided you change how you look at them. Without obstacles, you would never learn to overcome them. You would never grow. You would never develop into the next version of yourself.
As Wayne Dyer described it, when you look back at the tapestry of your life, your perception changes. What felt overwhelming in the moment often reveals itself as the very thing that built you. That retrospective clarity is available to you now, if you are willing to apply it in real time.
Starting Every Conversation from Solution
One of the most actionable ideas in this episode comes from George's mentor Jason Brown, who taught him a specific habit for handling difficult situations.
I don't like to deal with the problem. I want to start from solutions.
That reframe is powerful. Instead of walking into a hard conversation or a crisis focused on everything that has gone wrong, you orient yourself toward what can be done. You are not ignoring the problem. You are refusing to let it be the center of gravity.
George acknowledges this is not always easy. In the middle of adversity, it takes real discipline to redirect your mind. But that discipline is something you can build.
The Science Behind Training Your Mind
This is where neuroplasticity comes in. For a long time, people believed that habits and thought patterns were essentially fixed once you reached adulthood. Science has shown that is not true. The brain retains the ability to form new pathways throughout your life. The concept George returns to is straightforward: the neurons that fire together wire together.
Every time you catch yourself spiraling into problem-focus and redirect toward solutions, you are reinforcing a new neural pathway. The more frequently and quickly you make that redirect, the more automatic it becomes. You are literally training your brain to default to solution-oriented thinking.
How Your Goals Keep You Focused
One practical way to accelerate that rewiring is to keep your goals and vision front and center. When you have your goals visible, whether on your mirror, your phone, or a notebook you open every morning, they serve as an interrupt to the old negative pattern. A problem comes up, and instead of your mind racing toward worst-case scenarios, your goals pull your attention toward where you want to go.
As George puts it, your goal is to be bigger than the obstacles in your life. Your strategy is to focus on solutions. Keeping that vision in front of you makes it much easier to stay on that strategy when things get hard.
If you can dream it, you can achieve it.
Zig Ziglar's words open the episode for a reason. The ability to envision something better than your current situation is the foundation of solution-focused thinking. You cannot find a path to a destination you refuse to believe exists.
Action Steps
- Identify one obstacle or challenge you are facing right now and write it down.
- Pull out a piece of paper and write down as many possible solutions as you can, aiming for ten or more. Do not stop when it feels hard or the ideas seem impractical.
- Keep writing until your mind breaks through the block. Notice what surfaces when you stay focused on answers instead of the problem.
- Post your top goals somewhere visible so they interrupt negative thought patterns throughout your day.
- Each time you catch yourself dwelling on a problem, consciously redirect to asking: what is one possible solution right now?
Your mind is a tool. You can train it to look for answers by default, and the more you practice, the faster and more naturally it happens. It is never too late to start living the life you were meant to live, and it starts with deciding to focus on solutions.
