The Short Cut to Solving Your Problems

Let's first start with what is currently the recipe of the day for solving your problems.

You have a problem.

Maybe with a co-worker at the office, or with a client who's being difficult. Maybe it's with your spouse, a friend, or a group you regularly attend...

Or maybe you’re trapped in your own head.

Maybe you're wondering "what's wrong with me?" and why is it that I can't keep focused, or stick to my goals.

Regardless of the problem...

We try and fix it.

That's natural, right?

We buy a book, attend a conference, surf the medium blogs...We ask Google, Reddit...

We look for a cure.

Or worse, we look for a fix to hole we feel: We buy junk food, turn on Netflix, reflexively type in "facebook.com" into our browser.

Worse yet, we snap at people, we get a cold, we cry for an hour to a friend for the 5th time this month, or we opt to tune out altogether...

Why do we do this?

Because that's what we've done before.

And because...that's life?

Yes, that's life. It IS life when you take the short cut to solve your problems.

The short cut to solving your problems is the quick fix.

The short cut to solving your problems is the immediate reaction we take when a problem comes up in our lives.

The short cut to solving your problems is the path of least resistance that gives us quickest resolution.

Why?

Because it feels good.

It feels good?

Yes. It feels good when you go to Facebook, when you lash out in anger at a family member, when you eat junk food...

So whats' the problem?

The problem is that because you have been approaching life in this way, using the short-cut immediate fix to your problems...

They never go away.  

They persist.

Over, and over and over, in an infinite loop...

Why?

Because while these fixes feel good in the short run, they do nothing to solve problems for us in the long run.

Every quick fix feels good in the moment, and delays the pain to a later date.

We pour more dirt on our problem, instead of uncovering it and pulling it out by its roots.

We grab the short cut to feeling good in the moment, instead of the long way of feeling good forever.

I will let that take a bit to simmer.

So I'll keep writing words that are easy for you to read even though you're no longer paying attention to them...

When a problem comes up in our lives, we take the short cut to feel good in the moment instead of the long way of feeling good forever.

Our gut reactions to our problems are wrong.

They follow a pattern we've kept because of ease, but haven't questioned.

Our habitual responses to the problems in our lives aren't helpful.

The problem is that they FEEL like they are at first, and that's why they're so hard to see...

And because we misunderstand this, we face the same problems on a regular basis. And we continue to cover them...

So here is something that you maybe have never considered...

Do you really know what your problems are?

What if you only were seeing the surface, and missing the ocean?

What if the problem you felt wasn't the true problem.

What if the fix you grab for isn't a fix, but a cover-up?

One that will surely mean you'll feel this way again?

I'm bringing this up to give you an alternative option to the default.

To look at this from a different perspective.

I tell you this because.. I don't know why but it feels like information that has been hidden (certainly from me) and from you as well.

So let's wipe the mirror clean of dust so that we can see ourselves perfectly clear...

And what is the solution to that problem?

Then, understanding that taking the short cut is never the solution to your problem...

And that instead of constantly covering up our problems...

We must dig deeper into them.

xx David