Solving the sources of your problems

You can work to solve your problems, and see them coming back tomorrow, or you can work to resolve the sources of your problems, and never see them again.

Working on resolving your problems, rather than on the sources of your problems, is a subtle form of procrastination.ShareCopy

Solving your problems might be urgent, but solving their sources is more important. The very important is never urgent, and therefore time for that has to be set apart every day, preferably at the beginning of the day.

Here’s the only productivity tip you’ll ever need: do the most important thing first each day. Sounds simple. No one does it.

— James Clear (@james_clear) August 4, 2017

There is always a step, no matter how small, which can be done towards what you want to achieve, and there is no excuse for not taking it today.

You might be a special person, but your personal problems are never special: there is always a simple & direct way to solve them, though a scary one.

You do not have to be comfortable with something in order to do it; rather, the other way around: doing it will make you comfortable doing it, and eventually enjoying it.

(We commonly see the arrow of causality in the direction that allows us not to take responsibility and to find an excuse for our problem; most of the time, it’s the other way around.)

“When you are starting something, your goal should be consistency” – @MavTraveler. Making a step every day (and ensuring it is made in the right direction) is much more important than how big the step is.

If you never seem to have the time or energy to do a daily step towards improving your condition and becoming who you want to be, you probably have another problem at hand:

Everything which you did today which took time away from what you wanted to do to improve yourself and your condition is an addiction, and has to be treated accordingly. Denying this truth will prevent you from realizing your addiction is a source of problems, and has to be treated first.ShareCopy

Truth hurts the false. If truth hurts some parts of your self, then they have to be let go, for they are false or based upon the false.

The quality and quantity of the opportunities which will present in front of you always match the value you can provide to them. This is true for love, work, friendship, everything. Working on yourself is the best way to increase your opportunities.

We think of ourselves as fixed and the world as malleable, but it’s really we who are malleable and the world is largely fixed.

— Naval (@naval) May 14, 2017

If you are not taking care of yourself, life will not take care of you.

“Nothing is more expensive than being unhappy” – @tomfgoodwin. Treat being unhappy as a problem (but do not solve the problem, but its causes).

Resuming: work on resolving the sources of your problems, and avoid any Quick Fix (anything which promises to solve your problems, without solving their sources).

---

This post became one of the 100 implicit rules of life in my book “100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late”, reviewed as “absolutely brilliant” by Alberto Pisanello and as “a game changer” by Adam English.