At the beginning of 2022 my family was facing a major change. We needed to move from North Wales to South West England and we needed to get one of our kids into a specialist school. Another of our kids was also finishing high school and starting university. By November, we’d done it all and both Christine and I had new jobs. Below is what I posted at the beginning of all that on 4 January 2022. I still believe what I wrote, but I don’t know if I would have been quite so chipper if I could have seen ahead to how much hell that year was going to be.
Our family has a monumental challenge in 2022. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to approach this challenge. A couple days before Christmas a modification of my approach to design work merged with a reframing in my head.
The way I approach design work is the solution is in the problem; the form is in the content.
The reframing pushes my approach further to the problem is the opportunity.
This is not new, obvs. Two millennia ago Marcus Aurelius wrote, “What stands in the way becomes the way.” Ryan Holiday popularised it in his book The Obstacle is the Way. A long time before both Marcus and Ryan, the ancient Hebrews told a story about their ancestors walking through the very Sea they were trapped by.
What is new is that I saw this reframing applied to my challenge. It went from theoretical to practical. The reasons I had this useful insight – here’s the real point of today’s post – are:
I have confidence that when I work on a problem, I will find a path to a solution.
I did the work. spent time tumbling the problem around in my head.
(As long as you do 2, you’ll get where you need to go. 1 makes the process less stressful.)
And if reframing doesn’t work for you right now, remember the secret to unhappiness.
—Jeff
As a person with a degree in philosophy, the mention of prominent or well studied philosophers always makes my heart do a little pitter-patter. Marcus Aurelius is a commonly mentioned philosopher in my every day conversation with my philosophy-degree-having friends. Dare I say, he may even be my favorite.
Grow slowly
Skyler
I remember praying for you during that season. Nomad life taught me "there are no problems, only solutions". It was revolutionizing to my inner management🪷