When you walk into your favorite coffee place in the morning, I doubt that the first thing on your mind is, “How are the coffee bean plantations doing right now?” If you are a true coffee connoisseur, you may be aware that your preferred beans originate in Columbia or Nicaragua, but you probably don’t give much thought to the welfare of the coffee farmers.
However, businesses that depend on coffee beans for their very existence and continued growth include Starbucks, Keurig Green Mountain, Illycaffe, and others. Unusual changes in temperature, precipitation, and other environmental factors have been affecting coffee plantations all over the world, which, you guessed it, affects the supply of beans for your cup of joe! Additionally, those businesses are putting substantial financial resources into helping regional coffee farmers find solutions.
The cost of your coffee addiction is about to double or triple in price, so that’s not the only reason you should be concerned… because these companies are demonstrating an approach to their problems that we all should be mindful of when approaching our own.
We spend far too much time and energy complaining about issues like: you can’t find a job, your current job is boring, your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend left you for another, the economy is in shambles, politics is killing us all, what’s that rash on your elbow?, your cell died in the middle of an important call… need I go on?
Everybody has problems; they come in all different types, sizes, and shapes. similar to coffee businesses. And we must emulate what they do by spending money and resources on innovating. looking beyond the issue to innovative solutions for any situation. Boots-on-the-ground would entail conducting research, whether it be online or through group brainstorming with friends. reading (there’s an idea!), meditating on the question, seeking advice from those who’ve had similar issues. Well, that’s pretty obvious—money. Invest in a path that will help you get past the problem by taking classes, attending seminars, getting training of some kind, etc.
How you approach your problem is the first step in solving it. With getting off the blame-game, the “woe-is-me” pity party, the “it’s impossible” litany, just dumping that entire way of looking at things, and adopting the “Okay, it is what it is. Let’s get started; here is what I want.”
Key words? “Here’s what I want,” rather than “And this is what I don’t want.” Your thought process will change as a result of that straightforward semantic adjustment, which will put you on the right track to dealing with whatever problem you are trying to solve.