Success, distilled

This could be considered a followup to The Fulcrum.

One critique of self-help books, other than being generally terrible, is that they grossly oversimplify human problems. They’re trite and formulaic. So I’m going to do them one worse. Here it is–success, distilled. Just do this, over and over:

• Step 1: Admit the problem.
• Step 2: Solve the problem.
• Step 3: [This space intentionally left blank.]

There is no step 3, but that’s OK, since a lot of people never make it to 1. Then there are people who reach step 1, but become obsessed with it. And when step 2 is too much of a nuisance, problems begin manufacturing themselves, the obsession perpetuates into anxiety, depression, etc. You know this; I’m just restating things.

Life is about the problems. This isn’t a bad thing–there would be no work (or play) without problems. Successful people tirelessly seek them out–in fact, solving problems that no one even knew existed is paragon to them.

There would be no thought, because thought itself is biology’s response to problems.

And since life is about problems, doesn’t it make sense to devote yourself fully to Steps 1 & 2? Learning their nuances, understanding them, mastering them as far as you are humanly capable? That’s a calling. To me, they seem like pretty powerful tools, as long as they’re used in conjunction.