Last night’s dream placed me in confrontation with a hungry crocodile and equipped me with tennis racket. How did I win?

I woke up.

Shook by the experience, I felt a sense of terror, fear, and sure defeat. I mean, what else could I have done to win in that situation? I felt quite powerless.

Me? A soft looking creature that doesn’t hunt large animals. The crocodile… A scary looking creature that hunts large animals.

Eventually, when I came to, I recognized that I was focusing on an immediate sense of how dangerous this creature was to me, but ignored variables that would reveal how I could win.

Like, they only sprint a short distance and ziz-zag running confuses them (I can sprint faster)
or that they don’t like loud noises (I can yell loud)
or they hate being hit on their snout or eyes (the racket could help)

While I’m not seeking to face a crocodile in another dream soon, I do feel more prepared to solve a situation like that.

So, what steps must we take to go from afraid to solution?

Here are they are: (The detailed answer would depend on the challenge)

Investigate the tasks people did to over the challenge you have today
Recruit the help of someone for whom that challenge is a breeze.