problems | The Caleb Barney Collection

Strive for more problems

Each year, you should be lucky enough to have earned new problems. Hopefully, that means that you’ve grown so much in the past year that you are facing new challenges and a new set of problems.

If you get to the end of the year and you’re facing the same old problems you’ve faced in the past, you didn’t learn and grow from those enough in the past to be able to eliminate those now (or in the future).

Tackle your old and current problems. Make sure they never come back. But grow so much within this next year that you end up facing a new set of “problems.”

We don’t want a life completely void of challenges. That would be boring. We want obstacles to overcome. We feel good when we solve problems and feel like we’ve earned our success. Don’t be complacent. And don’t be upset when you face new problems…only be upset if you’re facing old problems.

Giving more effort and solving difficult problems

Usually, when effort increases, reward increases. Following the easy path is less likely to be rewarding (financially or otherwise). Because if it is easy then everyone would do it. And if everyone does it, it is less likely to be valued

Think back to economics class with supply and demand…the greater the supply (or the more people who have the ability to do something and want to do it), the less the demand and the less valuable that resource/task becomes.

If you do hard things or solve difficult problems that others won’t or can’t do, you’re more likely to be rewarded.

Stay away from negative people

However good or bad life is, a lot of it depends on your mindset.

Negative people? They have a problem for every solution.

Positive people find solutions to every problem.

How is it that someone working the same profession as someone else finds working 40 hours to be miserable and is always complaining, while the other person is putting in 55 hours and you don’t hear a peep from them?

How is it that one person gets up early if they want time to themselves or to work on a task, but another person sleeps in and complains there’s not enough time in the day?

I could go on and on with examples. But the point is that life is what it is. The circumstances are similar for all of us, but it’s how we view the circumstances (how we interpret them) that makes a difference. Do you want to be a positive person or a negative person? And do you want to hang out with positive people or negative people? Find solutions. Be the solution. And stomp out the problems.

Four things to avoid when trying to improve…

1. Avoid getting locked into bad habits. You usually have an idea of if you shouldn’t be doing something, so don’t do it.

2. Avoid resisting change. Change not for change’s sake, but to progress. Always strive for a better way to do something – doing it more effectively, more efficiently, or finding something to replace it. (Do you need to be doing that activity at all? Does anyone?)

3. Avoid seeking comfort in repetition. Just because it’s comfortable doesn’t make it right. The greatest times of accomplishment are often preceded by the greatest challenges/struggles which push us outside our comfort zone. We must embrace challenge.

4. Avoid applying old solutions to new problems. Your core values should stay the same. Your goal(s) might stay the same. But your tactics on how to complete the goal could (and probably should) change somewhat regularly, depending on if the tactics are producing the results you want. Just because a specific solution worked for something else doesn’t mean it will work for this new problem.

Simplifying complex issues

Most people make simple problems and solutions very complex. Anybody can do that. Experts make the complex problems and solutions simple. They can clearly and concisely explain things in layman‘s terms and don’t have to use fancy words or industry jargon to try to prove their intelligence.

Work on listening more and speaking less. When you speak, do it clearly, concisely, and with confidence. Simplify your answer as much as is required – no more, no less.