When life throws a curveball, your best move is to take a step back, PAUSE, and figure out how to tackle it head-on. In this activity, you’ll get to try out a real technique that helps people with their flexible thinking—and you’ll use it to tackle one of your current community challenges!

Mindfulness Check-In

• Pick one or two of these affirmations that speak to you:
  • All my problems have solutions.
  • I am open to all possibilities.
  • The future is good, and I look toward it with hope and happiness.
  • I press on because I believe in my path.
  • Failure is great feedback.
  • I am confident about solving life’s problems successfully.
  • If I can conceive it and believe it, I can achieve it.
• Write them down and stick them on your mirror. Every time you look in the mirror, say these affirmations out loud while working on the problem you’ll tackle in the next part of this path.

Attack Your Problem

• What is something you are struggling with for your project? Choose one of the following techniques to solve your problem. 
• On Your Own: 
  • Learn about the Six Thinking Hats Technique. For each hat, write down how you’d tackle the problem from that hat’s perspective. Use the questions from the video to help guide you. Really push yourself to think in each hat’s style, and if you get stuck, hit up your mentor for some help.
  • After you’ve brainstormed, review everything and choose a plan A and plan B to solve your problem. Share your 6 perspectives and your plan A and B on the path.
• In Your Community: 
  • Brainstorm a solution to your problem. Then, ask 5 different people with different backgrounds how they’d handle it. Video their answers. 
  • Pick your plan A and plan B from the answers you got (feel free to include your own idea).
  • Make a video compilation of their responses, your solution, and what you ended up choosing as plan A and B. Post it on the path.
• Put your chosen solutions into action and chat with your mentor or guide about how it went.