How to deal with obstacles along the way to your goal

Have you ever met someone who had no problems in their life? Personally, I haven’t. I’ve never even heard of such a person.

Unfortunately, problems are something we all have to deal with. And sometimes it can be pretty overwhelming.

But fortunately, there’s a process that helps to get around that. I mostly got it from the books “Principles” by Ray Dalio and “Work the System” by Sam Carpenter. I’ve used the process over the last few years to deal with the majority of the problems I come across in life, and it’s always helped.

By the end of this article, you’ll know how to use it too and you’ll have a 5 step process for getting around the problems life brings to you. Hope it helps!

Step 1 - Write down what the problem is. 

When problems come up along the way to your goal or just generally in life(and they always do), don’t spend too much time focusing on the negative result or being upset about it. Instead, stop and think “is there anything I can do about it right now?”

If there’s anything you can do to solve the problem or deal with it right then and there, do it. Otherwise, move on to Step 2 below.

Step 2 - Pick the most important problems to solve. 

Whenever I come across a problem that I can’t solve right then and there, I try to always write it down somewhere(I have a list on my phone). Then, at the end of the week, I come back to the list of problems that I’ve written down.

If there’s more than 5 problems, I’ll narrow the list down to the top 5.

1. Problem -

2. Problem -

3. Problem -

4. Problem -

5. Problem -

Step 3 - Test out the solutions you came to. 

From there I’ll pick the #1 biggest problem on the list.

For some problems, the solution is pretty straight forward and it’s not something you have to find. For example, if my biggest problem was “I forgot to cancel my Netflix subscription”, the solution would just be to log into Netflix and change the subscription plan.

But for other problems, the solution isn’t so straight forward and you might have to think through it. For example, if my biggest problem was “I haven’t been to the gym in a month”, I’d want to figure out what’s stopping me from going and how to get around that.

In these cases, answer the set of questions below in order to find a solution:

1. What is the problem? -
2. Why is this a problem? -
3. What’s the result I need or that I’m looking for? -
4. What actions or inactions(only mine) got me to where I am now?
5. What’s the solution? -
6. How will I get this done? -

For most problems around performance(when there’s a negative outcome or something isn’t getting done) I can always come to some sort of a solution by the end of answering those questions.

If the problem is around a disagreement between another person and I(they want something different than me), there’s a slightly different set of questions I use to find a solution. You can read them in this short article on finding win/win solutions.

Either way, each time I find a solution to one of these problems and apply it, I’m preventing that same problem from happening to me again in the future.

If you can consistently solve just 1 problem in your work or personal life per week and apply the solution that you found, by the end of the year you’ll have a lot less problems than you had at the start.

Step 4 - Document the solutions that work. 

After I’ve found the solution and successfully tried it out, the next step is to write it down somewhere. Personally, I have a list of solutions that I’ve found over time.

As well, I’ve always found it helpful to add instructions along with any solution I write down. That way:

1. If I ever have to come back and use the solution again, I can just look at the instructions and do it easily instead of having to start over on figuring it out.
2. If someone else has to do the thing, they can use the instructions and figure it out much easier than they would have on their own.

If your solution is something that you’re getting done on a laptop or phone, use a screen recorder app to record yourself while you demonstrate it instead of writing down the instructions,.

For things that require a laptop, I use a website called Loom. It lets you record your computer screen and voice while you browse, and then download the video when you’re done.

For things that require a phone, I’d just search “screen recorder” on the app store if there isn’t one already built into the device.

Step 5 - Use what you documented to solve problems faster in the future. 

Now that I have a list of solutions, whenever I go to solve one of the problems I’ve written down throughout the week I ask myself “what solutions most relate to this problem?”

Once I’ve found the solutions I ask myself, “of the solutions here that are relevant to my problem, did I use them all? Yes or no”.

If there’s anything that I didn’t do, I know that trying it out is a good start to solving my current problem.

Lastly, as the stack of solutions and instructions gets larger, I’ve found it really helpful to divide them into common categories and make a folder on google drive for each category. If you ever make a screen recording on how to do a task, you can upload it to the folder for the category it most relates to. This way, if someone needs a tutorial on something, they can find it in the folder.

That’s it!

Have a business or personal goal you’re currently going for but struggling to reach? I’ll help you put together a game plan to get it done. You can sign up for one for free at goaldoctors.com. We’ll be happy to help! — from Nick