Make Opposition Matter
Conflict magnifies and illuminates who you are. It seizes and startles you into seeing what makes you uncomfortable. It pushes your boundaries – intellectual, emotional and physical. Conflict, if treated properly, offers the chance to change your mind altogether.
When faced with a conflict, explore the possibility that opposing forces can both be true simultaneously. Taking this perspective immediately dissolves animosity and peaks curiosity. You find yourself wondering, “What’s their truth? Where is the value on their side?” When you finally give up the belief that yours is the only truth, it changes the game forever. Now you’re in a position to see what new truth you can create together.
Desires Help Us Grow
In 1968 Abraham Maslow published his landmark text on how human beings develop and grow,
Toward a Psychology of Being. Maslow became a major proponent of the theory that people grow in pursuit of such positive desires as safety, belonging, respect, prestige, and love. He contended that the realization of this hierarchy of desires results in self actualization, a state of high satisfaction, autonomy, and mastery.
Learn more about
Abraham Maslow
Change the Way You See Everything ...
Asset - Based Thinking gives you the power to Change the Way You See Everything...
(+) Change the way you see yourself
(+) Change the way you see other people
(+) Change the way you see situations
Tell the Truth... Fast
When confronting difficult topics,
Asset-Based Thinking fosters speedy resolutions and diffuses negative interactions. To begin a healthier dialogue follow these three steps (Be sure to formulate and rehearse the conversation to start and end positively):
1 State the behavior that bothers you clearly and concisely
2 State the impact of that behavior on you and the relationship
3 Present the positive vision you have of resolving the conflict or disruptive interactions.
The positive note you end on will set the tone for the action of the listener. Then, relax and enjoy what happens next.
Shift Your Perspective From Defecits to Assets
To shift your perspective from deficits to assets is to live life differently, unconventionally, even courageously. When you put more of your focus on progress than on perfection, on possibilities than on problems, you challenge the dogmatic and
Deficit-Based Thinking in yourself and others.
A New Way of Looking at The World
With your
Asset-Based Thinking filters on, you will begin to see everyday things in a whole new light. Change the way you see everything through ABT.
Left: Old DBT way of looking at things
Right: With ABT filters on.
Focus On Your Strengths
Each day you could decide to see your own strengths and capabilities more clearly while dimming the light on your flaws and short-comings. You could build relationships with people who are interested in accelerating your progress instead of converting those who are holding you back. You could concentrate more on what you have already accomplished and what you could easily achieve tomorrow than you do on setbacks and mistakes.
Asset-Based Thinking is a choice – not a personality trait.
Freedom is Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose
If you are free enough to act independently of your environment, you will possess great stability in the face of deprivation, failure and loss. The humanistic school of psychology, represented by such theorists as
Rollo May, Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and Abraham Maslow, espouses the view that a sense of autonomy contributes to self-esteem and that both help one to remain strong and healthy in the face of hardship.
Everyday Example of Asset-Based Thinking
You face a serious setback in your business: sales were down 20%. You bring the team together. Rather than dwell on what could possibly have gone wrong, you choose to build on past achievements and current capabilities that will move the team forward. By shifting from
“react” to
“rebound” the meeting builds its own momentum.
ABT as a way of thinking
"It is a way of thinking that chooses to magnify strengths instead of weaknesses; it zeros in on what's working rather than what's not, it favors inspiration and aspiration over desperation... and the more you do it the more infectious that thinking becomes."
I feel that is the core of what ABT is all about, the more you focus on what you can do, the more empowered you become to take on the challenges that are put forth in front of you.
Welcome to the ABT Wisdom Section
Welcome to the ABT Wisdom Section, our hope is that you are inspired by what is written here and begin to develop a new way of looking at life.
We ABT’ers decrease our focus on what is wrong (Deficit-Based Thinking) and increase our focus on what is right (Asset-Based Thinking) to help build enthusiasm, energy, strengthen relationships, and always move in a positive direction. We do this by making small shifts in the way we see (perceive, select, filter and interpret) reality that make dramatic improvements in the way we live and work. By magnifying our personal strengths; noticing what’s most valuable and worthwhile about others; and emphasizing what is working, possible, and propelling our momentum, we increase our chances of being successful and satisfied – exponentially.
Unfortunately, most of us rely more heavily on deficit-based thinking (DBT) which concentrates on personal gaps and weaknesses, on what is bothersome and irritating about others, and on what is not working, problematic and holding us back.
Embracing and exploiting the positive side of life’s ledger is at the core of Asset-Based Thinking (ABT). So, leave all that negativity behind and come join our positive conspiracy. Let’s spread the word about ABT and share our thoughts and experiences.
