The Problems You Have Left

I was part of a team once where we openly acknowledged that the only problems left were the difficult, complex ones. We accepted that the easy & fast solutions had, for the most part, been addressed. We delighted when something simple & easy crossed our paths, and celebrated wins over complex problems.

I think life outside of work is often the same way: most of the problems we face are complex, and it takes a team to work them out. Whether confronting my own habits, beliefs, or why a friend's email set me off, it is usually more involved than changing a light bulb or emptying the trash.

If it is true that doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result is textbook insanity, why do so many of us keep doing that? Once we know we are dealing with things which are complex, we can prepare for a longer time frame, more effort, etc., and agree that different ideas, methods, & practices are be required.

This upcoming weekend, about 30 men will join us to start work, in different ways, on the difficult problems they have left.

I can't wait!

Frame or polish?

Another of Seth Godin's posts got me thinking about people who frame an idea vs. polish it.

I know guys who say they'll go work on their relationship with God, cross the line of faith, build a community, etc. when they get their house in order. They're stuck trying to polish things up before other see them. I fall prey to this, too: if I can't do things well, I don't try--or I stall & delay.

Polish is beautiful, no doubt

Other men are the framers. They're building things, figuring out how to get things done, how to grow, how to challenge themselves. They focus more on progress than perfection. They're less likely to get stuck--or to put polish on being stuck so people see the shine, not the situation.

We're taught--shamed even--to spend more time & energy on the former. I want to spend more of my time working on the latter: framing things, getting things started--even making mistakes.