Problem vs. Challenge

The "problem turned into challenge" I learned about today was shown through an Electric Maze activity. The problem was making it all the way across a rug successfully without setting the alarm; the challenge was making it across the rug successfully with group members before the other team. It was also mad into a challenge by enforcing actions with money, such as, if someone talked money was taken away, and the maze had to be completed within 15 minutes in order to gain any money. The woman who introduced this challenge today is Dr. Becky Barker, and she is the Director, Center for Leadership Development and Volunteerism at the University of Oklahoma.

There are many situations where problems can be turned into challenges, such as, chores, grades in school, the ACT, or organizations within school. My sister and I would usually come home from school with a list of chores to do and we considered it a problem because they were suppose to be done by a certain time and we didn't always work well together, but instead of making it a problem we would make it a challenge by dividing the list up evenly and racing to finish first. This made the chores more exciting and allowed them to get done faster. Another instance would be grades; in my case, if I made low grades on a test or progress report, I would see this as a problem at first, but I know I wouldn't want to disappoint my parents or myself, so I make it a challenge and a goal. My parents support this challenge by offering me a reward of money for good grades. This encourages me to do better along with my self fulfillment of doing the best I can. Another situation would be taking the ACT in high school. It is a problem to many students, but is unavoidable for those seeking secondary education. The challenge for this would be to work hard to make a high score in order to get accepted into a college of their choice. The problem is the work but the challenge is getting into college. Last but not least, my final "problem turned into challenge" situation is about my personal experience with my high school student council organization. Every year we put on a gargage sale and donate money to a good cause. With my experience last year we had the garage sale in March, hoping for the weather to be nice and warm. Instead, the weather was freezing. All the students were bundled up and setting up tables and items to be sold. Instead of making the weather a problem, we made it a challenge and fun experience because we worked as a team, we promoted the garage sale, and we kept a positive attitude the whole time. The best thing is that we never quit even though our customers thought we were crazy for standing out in that type of temperature. We finished what we started that day and made a profit, so it was a very successful day because we didn't let the problem take over.