The Most Direct Solution to Any Problem

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The Most Direct Solution to Any

ProblemMarch 11th, 2008 by Steve Pavlina

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When trying to solve various problems in life, an approach I find very useful is

to first identify what Id consider the most direct solution, regardless of how I

feel about actually implementing it. Whats the clearest, most direct path to my

goal or the most efficient way to get around an obstacle?

Many problems will have multiple direct solutions, but often these solutions

will be unsavory at first glance because theyll require courage, self-discipline,

creativity, or persistence to implement. But if we can somehow get ourselves to

follow through, we know the solutions will actually work.

For example, suppose you want to lose weight. And suppose we can say that

one (of many) direct solutions is to eat the same as youre eating now, and

boost your exercise output by 500 calories a day. If you implement this rather

simplistic solution, youll lose weight. It may require discipline and

persistence, but most people would agree that it will work if you follow

through.

Another example: Suppose youre interested in starting a relationship with

someone, but you dont know how that person feels about you. One direct

solution would be to simply walk up, explain your thoughts and feelings, and

ask if s/he is interested in discussing the possibility of a closer relationship.

This will take less than a minute to say, and regardless of the outcome, at least

you know where you stand. Of course this solution may require a lot of

courage to overcome the possibility of rejection, but its very simple and

straightforward.

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See if you can identify the most direct solution to some of your problems.

Whats the simplest and quickest way to reach your goals, assuming you had

limitless courage and discipline?

Benefits of Directness

There are many seemingly challenging problems that have very simple, direct

solutions. The real challenge is how to become the kind of person who can

implement the most direct solutions instead of having to take a circuitous path

to compensate for laziness or timidity. This is why working on your personal

development, especially building your courage and self-discipline, is one of the

best problem-solving techniques there is. When you go to work on yourself,problems that once seemed untenable become much easier to solve. You get

better at implementing direct solutions instead of falling back on indirect ones.

One of the best areas where the idea of directness helped me was in making my

career transition from game development to personal development in 2004. I

asked myself what Id do if I was already retired. My answer was that Id

spend most of my time working on personal growth with other growth-oriented

people. Thats what I was already doing in my spare time when I wasnt

working. I realized I was running a games business to generate income, so I

could pay my bills and then work on personal development in my spare time.

That seemed like a needlessly indirect solution to me. Why couldnt I just

eliminate the middleman? I asked myself, Wouldnt it be smarter to work on

personal development full-time and find a way to pay all my bills from doing

that?

I identified a more direct solution, but it was a solution that would require

courage, discipline, and creativity to implement. I could see that if I actually

did it, it would work. (Im glossing over the specific details, but I think you get

the idea.) So then the problem became: How can I muster the inner resources I

need to make this happen? When I tried to tackle that problem, the results were

a bit unexpected. It turns out I didnt need to build those inner resources so

much. I just needed to be willing to apply them.


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Why We Resist the Direct Solution

Theres something reassuring about a direct solution that you know is going to

work, but theres also something disturbing about it. When you see a direct

solution staring you in the face, and you havent implemented it even though

you know it will work, you have to stop and ask yourself, Why am I holding

myself back from solving this problem when the solution is right there? If you

really give that question some thought, it may lead you down an interesting

rabbit hole.

My particular rabbit hole was that I had to consider whether I was willing to

work hard to achieve a result I wanted. Was I only willing to take the easypath? I saw that the only real barrier to achieving my goal was whether I was

willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. Running my games

business had become very easy for me, and I didnt have to work that hard to

keep it profitable. I had to decide whether I was willing to push myself to a

new level of action. Once I could honestly say to myself, Yeah, Im willing to

do that, I was able to get moving and implement the direct solution. But as

long as I was thinking, There must be an easier way, or Im not sure I want

to do that much work, all solutions (direct or indirect) eluded me.

Consider one of the direct solutions you identified in your own life. Stop and

ask yourself, Am I willing to do that? Am I willing to be the kind of person

who could implement this solution?

What does it mean if you say you dont want to be the kind of person whod

implement the direct solution? Are you saying youd rather be uncreative,

undisciplined, and timid instead of creative, disciplined, and courageous?

When you bring these issues up and deal with them consciously, its hard to

admit that youve been choosing to be that kind of person the kind of person

who has to settle for slower, more indirect solutions and sometimes no solution

at all. But that is what youre choosing when you shun the direct solution, isnt

it?


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You have an important choice to make regarding what kind of person you want

to be. Do you want to be courageous, disciplined, creative, and persistent or

not? Do you think those are good qualities to develop in yourself? If not, then

youre basically left to embrace their opposites by default. Is that something

youre willing to do?

Directness and the Law of Attraction

What about using the Law of Attraction? Is that part of a direct solution? That

depends on the problem.

Consider this simple example. A common manifestation exercise is to try to

manifest a blue feather somewhere in your reality. You hold the intention to see

a blue feather sometime in the next 24 hours. Whats the most direct solution to

that intention? Is it to wait patiently and let the universe bring it to you

somehow? Why not simply do a Google image search? Youll find your blue

feather within seconds. Problem solved. Next.

Many times when people try to apply the Law of Attraction, they

simultaneously resist implementing the most direct solution to their problem.

To me thats a mixed intention. If you really desire something badly enough,

why on earth would you resist the most direct path to it? Doesnt that imply

you dont really want it? Or maybe you dont want to become the kind of

person whod be able to get it. If you already have a direct solution staring you

in the face, and you dont implement it, Id say youre using the Law of

Repulsion more than the Law of Attraction.

The point of the Law of Attraction is to hold the intention to discover a direct

solution to a problem. Once that solution is already known to you, the Law of

Attraction has done its job. Your job is to implement the solutions you attract.

When you find yourself having difficulty solving a problem, but you can

identify a direct solution with relative ease, perhaps the real problem isnt what

you think it is.


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