By the Ocean
Partly Cloudy 77 Degrees
6:54 a.m.
A great way to solve your problems is to focus on solving other people’s problems.
This isn’t avoidance, it’s an understanding that, in certain pursuits, the indirect approach is often more effective than the direct one.
Money is a simple example.
Never pursue money directly. I didn’t know that until I learned it from a bazillionaire I worked with many years ago. If you chase money directly, it will run away. The way to get money is to do the thing where it is a natural byproduct.
When you solve problems for others (provided you’ve structured things with some level of foresight), money is often a byproduct.
You don’t chase it, it chases you in response to your actions in the world.
Other problems in business can be solved this way as well. Why?
Because what we focus on expands. If you ever want to ruin your life, spend all day focusing on your own business problems. Think about them every minute, of every day. They will grow so big that soon your vision will be completely clouded by them. You will see little to nothing beyond the boundaries of your own problems. Misery will be your constant companion. How fun!
We all know people who do this. They are not nice to be around.
Focusing on solving problems for others as an indirect route to solving our own is much more enjoyable.
This act completely adjusts how we see so that, when we look back into our own world, our problems look different. We notice things that were previously invisible. Perspective shifts.
More importantly, we temporarily remove the energy source (our awareness) that was expanding the size of the problem well beyond its true size. When we return our gaze to the same problem, it seems smaller…because it is.
Some problems even go away completely with this approach.
Many business owners have the “problem” of not having enough clients.
Getting more clients is a hard thing to accomplish…especially if that’s what you set out to do!
When you chase, things run. It happens with money, it happens with clients.
Solving problems for others brings clients as a natural byproduct.
That’s what the media platform is for. Solving problems, in whole or in part, in advance, for far more people than you could ever work with…without demanding anything in return.
This “indirect problem solving” strategy becomes a powerful tool as you grow your business. For any “problem” you encounter, instead of working to solve it directly, you can ask:
What else could I do that would make this problem completely disappear as a natural byproduct?