Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2011 during Spain’s economic crisis; its references to the crisis as the biggest problem of the day, widespread job losses and people waiting for a change of government to find work reflect that moment.
Sometimes, when we feel lost, when everything in front of us looks like a problem and we can’t see any solution in the short term, we should always remember that there is always a way out. It’s a matter of finding it.
One of the problems we humans have is that we forget how we overcame difficulties in the past. Your brain may have forgotten it already, but when we were small and tried to walk and fell to the ground, we had a problem. That child cried out of frustration at not being able to walk, yet by trying again and again, little by little, we managed to take our first steps.
Then came exams at school, high school or university. Remember how nervous we felt in the days before final exams. Strangely, those who had studied and those who hadn’t felt exactly the same nerves.
The fact is that 20 years later, whether we passed or failed, whether we finished a degree or never completed high school, we’re all still here and alive. Back then, those were the problems we had, and they filled our minds to the point of taking away our appetite.
Your first breakup may have left you feeling short of oxygen, as if the world were falling in on you. After that first breakup came other relationships that brought new problems of their own, pushing aside what had once been your main problem, until the biggest problem of a few months or years before had become a faint memory.
At that moment you learned that the world doesn’t fall in on anyone, and that with time every problem stops being a problem, as long as you keep moving forward and don’t get stuck in the past.
There is always a way out
So it’s important to move forward looking ahead, although sometimes, to face today’s problems, we need to travel back to the past and see that we have already solved every problem we now face at some point before. We’ve always had problems, and whenever a new difficulty came along it seemed insurmountable, until we overcame it.
New problems today
Right now, humanity’s biggest problem is called the Crisis, and this universal problem is choking us financially. Many people have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay their debts. The situation has crept up on us gradually, slowly wearing down our ability to react to difficulties. When money fails within a family, other kinds of problems begin, and they can even end up affecting a marriage.
At the end of all that childhood learning, it turns out that trying to walk, asking a girl out or learning to drive are no problem at all; we’ve already overcome all of that. What we can’t overcome is the main problem, the real problem: we’ve realized that, materialistic or not, money causes 90% of the problems in our adult lives. Without financial peace of mind, everything seems to be a problem, and that’s the plain truth. A lack of money can turn our very existence into a problem.
It’s a serious problem when you consider that money is one of the few problems that don’t solve themselves, and we’ll need a strategy to get it. That’s when we realize that if we can’t earn money by getting a job, because there are no jobs, we’ll have to start a business of our own.
Of course, many people don’t feel up to it because they have no experience running a business. Others run into the difficulty of getting financing for a business, others have no ideas, and some will be afraid of setting out on a path they don’t feel prepared for.
At that moment, remember that you are that child who tried to walk and kept falling, or the person who wanted a driving licence and had never sat behind the wheel. Even so, we see people succeeding in business during a recession, when many companies are closing down. It’s exam season, and some pass while others fail. It isn’t a matter of luck but of effort, and as a rule, whoever passes has studied a bit more than whoever fails. That hasn’t changed from our childhood to today.
See also: How to start a business with no money
Business and martial arts
Whenever I’m struggling or find myself in a maze, I always think back to the time when I practised martial arts, and I remember the words of my teacher (sensei).
Weighing 64 kg against an 85 kg opponent, it was all about analysing, keeping a safe distance, moving in when you were sure and backing off when you entered the danger zone. You knew from the start that you’d need to land more blows than your opponent, because he was clearly stronger, and you also knew that a single blow from him could put you on the canvas.
Even with a carefully planned and studied strategy, there could be surprises during the fight, surprises that forced you to adapt to the new situation. The ability to improvise was tied to the ability to react. Was I afraid? Of course, because it would be crazy not to be. But that fear kept you alert and made you smarter, while your opponent was more confident.
A fight like this usually ended when an opponent who was heavier and taller than you pinned you to the floor. At that point there was nothing to be done. The fight was over, and you accepted that he was a tough opponent, better than you. That’s where the sensei’s words come in:
“Whenever you’re pinned by a stronger opponent, don’t waste energy trying to escape if you don’t know the way out. Stop and study the weakest point and how to turn your opponent’s strength to your advantage. Strength is useless against intelligence, and speed is useless if you can’t move. Channel your energy into a single point and get out of there. There’s always a way out. Find it.”
With time and practice you realize that, however big your opponent, if you channel your strength into his wrist or a single finger, he’ll cry out, let you go and ask for the fight to be stopped, even though he’s the one in the dominant position.
The problem was 85 kg of body weight, and the solution lay in focusing on just 200 grams of it.
These days, whenever I find myself in a maze, I always recall some situation I’ve already been through. I’ve learned to identify problems, because they come in two kinds:
- The one with no solution: This isn’t really a problem, because if it has no solution it isn’t something we should worry about, and we have to learn to live with it. In any case, problems like this don’t come up often in life.
- The one with a solution: If it has a solution, it isn’t a problem either. It’s simply something we need to find the solution to as soon as possible.
The good news is that in most of the problems life throws at us, there are no opponents. You aren’t competing against anyone but yourself, putting your abilities to the test. That’s why, when I hear someone say they want to do something but don’t dare, that they have a good idea but don’t know whether it will work, that they’ve been out of work for three years but are waiting for a change of government to get a job, or simply that they’re waiting for something to happen that will improve their situation on its own, that famous saying comes to mind:
“If you sit waiting for something to happen that will change your life, the only thing that will happen is that life passes you by.”
If you’re afraid, you can succeed in business. Despite what people say, fear is essential, while overconfidence tends to be harmful. Fear usually makes you act with caution, and being afraid shows that you’re aware that certain risks exist. Fear is good, as long as it doesn’t stop you and still lets you take on certain risks.
I’m not sure this article will help anyone, but I’m simply trying to get across that anything you set out to do can be achieved. And if it doesn’t turn out as you hoped, as the master of your own destiny you can give yourself as many chances as you like, always aiming to be able to say one of these two things at the end of the road:
- I worked hard and I succeeded.
- I didn’t succeed, but I did everything I could to get there.
That way you’ll avoid saying things like:
- What if I had done…?
- What if, instead of getting comfortable…?
- I regret not having tried…
The past can’t be changed. Our present life is the result of what we did in the past, and our future will depend on what we do today.
Remember: To change your current situation, you’ll have to start making decisions you haven’t made until now. The road won’t be a bed of roses; it will be full of thorns and obstacles. Some obstacles will be easy to overcome, and others will be real monsters that are hard to bring down.
We’ll feel afraid, we’ll feel lost, and at times we’ll find ourselves paralysed by our own fears. When that happens, remember that there is always a strategy that leads to a way out. Focus and channel all your energy into the way out, not into the problem.
The only people who fail are those who stop trying. Good luck!
Further reading
- How to lose your fear of starting a business
- Donald Trump: the mindset of an entrepreneur
- The early days of Steve Jobs
Featured image: Lieven Smits, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
