Lesson Twenty-Five — A Simple Way of Handling Complicated Problems

In the last chapter, we learned that you should not ignore problems. We talked about the steps involved in solving problems both at home and at work. But what about complicated problems, really complicated problems? I mean really, really, complicated problems? How do we handle them?

There is an old saying, “Problems are only opportunities in coveralls (work clothes).”  In other words, a problem can be turned into an opportunity, but it takes some down and dirty work to do it.  There will be very few, if any, opportunities that are just handed to you.  Most of them are plagued with obstacles.  Obstacles that overwhelm and confuse the ordinary, everyday person just drifting along in life.  If it were not for the obstacles, the real opportunities would be readily available for everybody and they wouldn’t be much of an opportunity, would they?  What makes them opportunities is that not everyone sees them for what they truly are.  They think they are simply problems that should be avoided at all costs.

Getting over or around these obstacles requires work. These opportunities, disguised as problems, are usually very complicated. If you learn how to methodically solve these complicated problems, you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams!

Most people, at least those people who have not read this book, get overwhelmed with a complicated situation or problem. In reality, big problems are just a lot of little tiny problems all in one box. You cannot solve the problem all at once. You have to take it apart, piece-by-piece. Then, address the pieces one at a time.

More than likely, each of the pieces to the big problem can be broken down still further into smaller problems. Then, they can be broken down into even smaller problems. We can handle the really small problems. We learned that in the last chapter.

Take care of the easy ones first, the ones you can do quickly without involving other people, with little expense, time or money. Then move onto the harder ones.

If you need help from someone else, get it. Maybe getting someone to help becomes a sub-problem. Break that down into tiny, manageable steps also.

Earlier in our book, we talked about building a house. Do you remember? Don’t look at it as building an entire house. Look at it one tiny, little piece at a time. Dig a hole, mix up some cement, pour the cement into the hole, etc.

By breaking down the big problem into a bunch of tiny ones, we can move forward, take action, conquer the problem and become successful!