By storing the energy the negative event has produced and releasing it in the opposite direction with a little extra to create positive experience.
Story Time
One day I have received a notification saying that my card has been charged something around $100 for the annual subscription to an app I was no longer using.
The mistake was technically on my part. I haven’t cancelled my subscription which got automatically renewed. Nevertheless, I felt annoyed and a bit cheated. Suddenly I was thinking of all the things I could have done with $100 that I no longer had.
I have contacted the support and asked for the money back since I wasn’t using the app.
Here is the highlight of the reply I got.
I have processed your cancellation and full refund in the amount of 95.88 USD. […] We know how frustrating unexpected renewals are and we send a renewal reminder at least one month before a renewal takes place (via email).
Disappointment and resentment were dissolved and replaced with a sense of relief. The refund was followed with empathy for my mishap even though I had a chance to prevent the renewal if only I had paid attention to the reminder email for which I was politely reminded of.
The second example is similar though slightly more complex.
Some time ago I did some work for a client which involved a WordPress plugin that required a licence. To save time, I went ahead and purchased the licence myself. The client was happy to reimburse me for the expenses at the end of the project.
A year after purchasing that license I received a notification. I have just spent $50 on license renewal for the WordPress plugin. The project has long since been completed. As you might have guessed, I’ve also simply glanced over the “warning” email that the renewal is about to happen in a few days.
Once again, I turned to customer support. Here is the reply I got.
A full refund has been issued and your subscription has been canceled. It should show up on your credit card in 5-10 business days.
Would you mind providing me with the email address of the person to whom you would like to transfer the license?
One more email and everything was resolved.
I’ve now had $50 to not spend on anything.
Conclusion
I’m bad at managing my subscriptions.
More importantly, in both cases these services produced a negative experience which only made me resent them even though I was the one who failed to acknowledge the renewal reminders.
However, the way they have resolved these issues resulted in me having more trust and respect for these services.
The refund neutralized that negativity the unwanted renewal produced. However, the empathy and additional effort that they put in to resolve the issue and, most importantly, not making a fuss about it, resulted in an overall positive experience. For me. Not sure how it was for them.
Takeaway
Look for opportunities that arise from a problem. It is great if you can simply neutralize any negativity that arose from it. It is even better if you spot an opportunity to use the situation to show a side of you that would otherwise remain hidden.
Be open to giving up short-term gains for more valuable ones that might come in the future.
Problems are inevitable. The way we deal with problems is what makes all the difference.