Figure It Out
“Don’t demand that things happen as you wish, but wish that they happen as they do happen, and you will go on well.” — Epictetus
This writing is Certified Human
The Obstacle
Seldom do things go as planned. What should take a little bit of time ends up taking a lot of time. What should be simple gets complicated. Easy tasks have a way of becoming complicated, and the struggles can mount.
Our idea of the way things should be can make us frustrated, angry, anxious, and resentful.
This makes the task harder than it needs to be and fragments our focus. It destroys our performance and can cause us to become irritable and damage our relationships.
It's easy to get carried away thinking that things should be one way or another.
But the reality is what is, is.
The Gift and Opportunity
We know things aren't going to go our way. We know easy things are seldom easy.
We can plan for the struggle ahead and anticipate that there will be roadblocks and complications. We can know frustration will come and anger can boil.
We can plan for what's coming and decide who we're going to be and how we're going to reset when it inevitably comes.
When we do this, we can quickly recover, refocus, and put our energy and attention into the task, making it just a little bit easier than it otherwise would be.
We don't have to add misery to our suffering.
We can remember that those around us are there to help instead of damaging the relationship with our frustration.
We can plan for the struggle.
The Practice of Self-Mastery
• Expect the struggle
• Notice the frustration
• Reset our attention
• Figure it out
CHEAT CODE: EXPECT → NOTICE → RESET → FIGURE
The Why
I had a grand plan for the day. All the things that I would get done in a short amount of time, tasks and projects that should have gone easily.
But you'll not be surprised to find out they did not go easily.
There were struggles, as there always are.
A home project where walls are not level, measurements don't add up, studs aren't where they're supposed to be, templates aren't provided by the manufacturer, and things just need to be figured out along the way.
I could have been frustrated, angry, and focused my attention on the struggles instead of the task ahead.
I knew going into it that things were probably going to be difficult, and I had budgeted for that.
Instead of becoming increasingly frustrated, even when I sliced my finger pretty good, I just got down to business, stopped the bleeding, wrapped the finger, and got back to the work of hanging a difficult light on a difficult ceiling with missing templates and instructions.
This is the story of life.
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