A proven approach to help you avoid and solve big problems
What’s a big problem?
A big problem is a problem of massive magnitude and consequence, one that requires extraordinary efforts or resources to solve. It’s not your everyday problem.
Being obese, for example, is a big health problem as it can have serious effects on your overall wellbeing. More so, dealing with it demands drastic measures.
A broken relationship with a close family member also qualifies as a big problem. One heated argument or disagreement with a dear relative, conversely, is no big issue.
Big problems are never casual. They’re dubbed big for the reason that their impacts are far-reaching and the effective solution to them is neither simple nor routine.
How big problems are formed
Of course, next comes the vital question: the origin of big problems.
Big problems don’t just manifest out of the blue. They compound over time in a formation process that is often slow and steady. They grow little by little.
No one becomes too overweight overnight. It’s not in one day that a marriage hits the rock. Things may finally come to a head in one day but it certainly takes some time to journey to that very day.
Big problems are like large bodies of waters. Several deposits of different sizes combine to form them.
A drop on the day before yesterday, a trickle yesterday, a bowlful today and a truckload tomorrow, and so a water body―or big problem―comes to be.
Consider any big problem you know. You’d discover on assessing each one that it’s nothing but a compounded result of small problems over time. This is true for obesity―individual―as it is for a pandemic―community.
Whether it’s a stage four cancer, some machine that broke down completely or a person in huge debt, each instance is an accumulation of small problems that may first be unacknowledged and then left unattended and unresolved.
The journey to a big problem begins with a single misstep―usually a rather seemingly negligible fault. So, many people who have big problems always find it hard to accept the microscopic genesis of the huge difficulty wherein they now find themselves.
How to avoid big problems
Now, we know what big problems are and how they’re formed. Let’s talk about how you can avoid them.
James Clear captures it perfectly when he said, “ Solve big problems early. Rebound after one missed workout, not a decade of inactivity. Repair a strained relationship the next day, not years later. Fix overspending before it becomes a lifestyle. “
James concluded that problems with simple solutions at first become difficult to unwind over time. Such truth! Time compound things and increases their effects in epic proportions.
In case you missed it: solve those small problems now before they snowball into bigger issues requiring special solutions.
Those problems you think are small today would become big tomorrow if you do nothing about them. If you don’t watch your weight or spending now, you will have an obesity or debt crisis problem respectively down the line.
The key to avoiding big problems is to solve them early while they are yet small issues.
Write portions of that paper or book from time to time so you won’t have to write thousands of words in a short while when the deadline is just around the corner.
Once you discover a problem, insignificant as it may seem, move to solve it on time. Save yourself a future big problem now by nipping that nascent bad habit in the bud before it becomes ingrained.
The earlier you address an issue, the easier it is to sort out. The longer you wait, the harder it gets to find a solution.
What if you have big problems already?
Of course, we might occasionally find ourselves in big problems due to our negligence and not paying adequate attention. But this doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. You need not worry. There’s a way out.
More so, big problems are opportunities in disguise. Through them, you can improve your problem-solving skills and learn a thing or two while at it.
So, you need not be dead scared of big problems even though they’re best avoided.
Now to the best part.
The way the problem got big is the same way you’re going to make it go away. In bits and pieces. That’s how.
You eat an elephant by consuming pieces of meats. What does this mean for you? It means you have to break your big problem into smaller surmountable pieces and solve them one after the other.
Trying to solve a big problem all at once is often an effort in futility. What you’ll get from such an attempt is frustration and disappointment which may even compound the already daunting challenge before you.
Imagine trying to lose 75 KG of body fat in a month or fixing in a week a relationship that has been broken for decades. The odds, i.e., natural laws, are stacked against you, and you have little or no probability of success in these scenarios.
What you can and should do is start by dissecting that problem and finding the big lever portions you can solve first.
In layman terms: do those things first that will significantly reduce the size/impact of the problem.
Cut off or reduce the major expense draining your purse.
Remove that portion of your diet contributing the most fat.
And do that one thing that will halfway close the gulf between you and your estranged beloved person―an apology perhaps?
You will be surprised at the number of big problems you can solve by learning to piece apart a particular problem and finding serial or concomitant solutions to each and every piece.
In short…
You can avoid big problems altogether by solving them early. And if you already have a big problem on your hands, you can munch and nibble away at it until it’s all gone.
You can do this. It’s in you.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section or let’s talk here. You can also join my inner circle to receive insights like this and other useful updates directly in your email.
