What Mentality Do We Need To Solve Hard Problems?

What does focus really look like when you’re trying to solve a difficult problem?  

Let me give some examples that I’ve found over the years:

• Ben Patrick, AKA ‘Kneesovertoes Guy’ – I’ve been using this man’s exercise system and principles for the last 2 years and I’m more athletic at 41 years old than I’ve ever been.  Ben Patrick grew up dealing with horrible knee pain/problems.  The challenge was that he loved basketball.  He was the slowest kid on the teams he played on.  By his late teens he had been through multiple surgeries on his knees.  After high school he worked painting houses.  He still had College Basketball dreams but he had to figure out his knee pain.  He describes painting all day and using that time to think rigorously through strategies and exercises he could use to improve his knees.  Now in his early thirties he’s helped thousands of people heal painful knees and many other parts of the body through a system of bulletproofing exercises in his ATG movement system (ATG = Athletic Truth Group).
  
• Julius Yego AKA ‘The YouTube Man’ –  Julius Yego Grew up in rural Kenya on a farm.  As a kid he and other boys would compete against each other seeing how far they throw sticks.  Eventually he decided he wanted to compete in the Javelin Throw.  But there was a problem: he had no coach, there were no facilities, and his parents wanted him to focus on school.  Committed to pursuing his goals, Julius started watching other Javelin throwers on YouTube.  He would memic their training methods and technique.  Eventually, in 2015 he became world champion in the Javelin Throw.  I believe it was the first time someone from Africa had done such a thing.
  
• Curtis Carroll AKA ‘Wall Street’ – Incarcerated at 20 years old, Curtis Carroll didn’t know how to read or write.  In his TED talk he said he picked up a book for the first time at 20 years old and began the painstaking process of learning how to read.  Then at 22 years old he picked up the business section of the Wall Street Journal and began learning how to invest.  Since then he has had the keen observation that a major part of recidivism is released offenders not understanding money management.  So he created a program called F.E.E.L. (Financial Empowerment Emotional Literacy).

I absolutely love these stories!  When I think about these 3 men, what I see is the ability to trust that putting intentional time and effort into simple tools has the potential to yield powerful results.  These stories are in direct contradiction to that little voice that’s in all of our heads when we’re trying to solve a difficult problem in our lives, “If I just had… more money/more time/better technology/better looks/more education/more energy/etc. … then I could solve this problem!”  And while we’re doing that, someone else who’s battling objectively more difficult circumstances has decided that they’re going to use every resource that they have, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, and they’re going to focus with a heroic concentration on a daily basis to move themselves in the direction they want to go. 

There are times we need specific tools for a specific task.  However, we can also express the creativity and openness of mind to change the way we look at the tools we already have or better use the little time we have or maximize the humble beginnings from which we launch a long journey.  All this with a ferocious commitment to not make excuses for ourselves and fight to improve our position, no matter how small of an increment forward.