“With all due respect, I believe this will be our finest hour.” Sound familiar? It’s one of the best lines in the 1995 movie, Appolo 13 with Tom Hanks. It was said in the control room by the actor playing Gene Kranz when he overheard a couple of engineers discussing the dismal likelihood of bringing the astronauts home safely. With that mindset, Kranz shook up the analytical thinkers and was able to inspire them to develop innovative solutions that resulted in a safe return.

Kranz demonstrated an important phenomenon we now know conclusively: that your perspective actually controls your brain’s neurotransmitters, which affects your thinking and behavior. That’s the science.

So, when an adverse situation occurs, do you approach it with anxiety and worry? If so, your brain will release all the stress hormones it can muster and put you in a stressful, fight-or-flight mode. You focus on all the problems that exist. In effect, you take a defensive position, attempting to reduce risk because of all the barriers you see. Anxiety turns to fear, leading to paralysis and other avoidant behavior.

However, if you approach an adverse situation that you believe is an opportunity, you release brain chemicals that stimulate creative thinking and innovative solutions. Your ability to come up with unconventional ways to address the adversity appears to come out of nowhere. Your brain is doing what you direct it to do.

Therefore, when you face adversity that will result in failure if you use conventional and traditional solutions, you first have to believe a solution does in fact exist; you just haven’t discovered it yet. If you want the benefit of your brain’s optimal power, this perspective is essential.

This week, use your brain—to the good. Notice how you approach adverse situations. What could you do to alter your approach for the better?