I often think about how many aspects and ideas we could incorporate into our lives, and indeed our communities, from MacGyver and how we as people, communities, nations, and races can better ourselves by applying some of the aspects and ideas we see in MacGyver.
Interestingly, Lee Zlotoff has the same idea. As he tells anyone who will listen, the world needs MacGyver. But he doesn’t mean that so literally as he means we need the attitude, the way of thinking and looking at problems and how to solve them. For a while now I’ve had a tag line at the bottom of my posts which reads “MacGyver is a state of mind” and that line is something I made up (or at least I think I made it up) to reflect this very idea. When you really get down to it, the essence of MacGyver is about the way he thinks. Not only the way he solves a problem and thinks his way out of a situation, but also the way he thinks about other people, his surroundings, and how his actions will impact them.
We may not be able to emulate the ability to MacGyver our way out of any situation but we can emulate the mindset of living simpler more considerate lifestyles. Being appreciative of what we have and positive about what we can do. Relax and focus on the good stuff. Trust that we can find a solution to the problems we encounter. These are all simple yet important aspects of the MacGyver Mindset which really cost us nothing but will have huge payoffs.
MacGyver is a state of mind. It’s how you think, react, and do.
One of our forum members, MacBeth, put it this way:
“For me more than anything else it’s a state of perception. Inherent in that state is a willingness to be open to possibilities, to accept different ways of thinking and seeing and doing. There’s optimism — the willingness to try — and curiosity: the wish to add to an already considerable grasp of the world. There’s also pragmatism: what you have to work with is what you’ve got, and you make it work, or at least try. And there’s persistence: you don’t give up just because you don’t have the ‘right tools’, or the right resources. You look at the existing resources, and figure out how to get them to be the right ones.”
Another forums member, Joe, says:
“Admittedly, attempting to solve such extremely difficult problems with limited resources under adversity and with ridiculous time constraints is something that most of us will only face (and fail at) in bad dreams. But ….. everyday life is chock full of dilemmas, issues, and sticky situations that require MacGyver-like executive decisions and there’s nothing like a little mental gymnastics and practice to make things perfect!
MacGyver teaches us over and over that chance favors the calm, cool, and prepared mind and thus turning seemingly impossible situations around in one’s favor is, more often than not, quite doable. “
You can see more forums members’ comments here.
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MacGyvering Your Life is a regular series looking at ways we can incorporate aspects of MacGyver’s values, ethics, and mindset into our own lives. We encourage feedback and discussion via the comments section below and if you would like to contribute with your own article you can contact us here.
Thanks for this nice article—and the wonderful website! I’ve been working from home these past few months and spent a lot of time isolated, worried, and frustrated. I’ve taken to keeping MacGyver on in the background as I work, and the indomitable spirit of the Mac (and the program itself) is calming and reassuring. I’m glad there are others who recognize the lovely heart behind the program and take the same sort of reassurance from it that I do.