Problems as many of you may have realized, are always complicated. There will usually be a lot of factors to solve it and this can be very overwhelming sometimes. Believe it or not, most problems can really be solved by just going Back To Basic (BTB).

Example of a Problem

Let me give you a complex problem as an example. Let say David had just been promoted to a managerial level. With the promotion, the company (like what most companies do) had squeeze everything from the poor guy. He was put in charge of hundreds of project. And he was pushed for result almost hourly. In short, he was under tremendous pressure and stress and it is starting to affect his health and his relationship with his family.

The Solution

There are many ways to approach a problem. This had been discussed a lot of time and if you are interested, I list here a few articles previously written on the subject.

• 11 Missing Steps of Problem Solving You Probably Don’t Know
• How To Use Emotion & Solve Problem Effectively

However, to solve the problem using the “Back To Basic” approach, you must really sit down and analyze the basic elements of your problem. In our example, the problem is definitely the stress. David’s health condition and the relationship will not be affected if there is no stress to begin with.

Then David will see that the stress actually originate from his superior. Both the hundreds of projects and the company are not causing him stress. It is really the superior that giving him pressure.

Bear with me as I elaborate the steps of the “Back To Basic” method.

Now that we know the superior is the one causing him stress, the next step that David should do is to know what the superior actually want from him. What was it that if given, the superior will stop all the pressure. The answer is simple – Result.

Of course, the next logical step is really to determine how to get the result but let’s just stop right here.

Why Do We Need BTB

The second time I read this article, I’ve had that Duh feeling. Of course good result will eliminate the stress. Anyone can identify this immediately.

But believe me, there are so many people out there actually solve the problem wrongly. They start by solving the relationship problem first. While the stress is still accumulating, they are pinpointing the problem to the company, and may approach the problem by quitting the company. This is also the wrong solution to the problem as David will continue to receive stress from other company he will be employed.

Is BTB Just A Fancy Name For Problem Definition?

“Redefining problem” step identifies problem. “Back to Basic” step is actually providing the answer. Let me list down 5 of the most common problems to elaborate the difference.

1) How a company can make more profit?
BTB solution – More sales and less expenditure.

2) How to have an effective time management?
BTB solution – stop wasting time.

3) How to be loved by everyone?
BTB solution – Be nice.

4) How to lose 20kg?
BTB solution – Exercise and eat right.

5) How to wake up early?
BTB solution – sleep early and alarm clock.

– I wonder –
Any other question and the BTB solution that comes to your mind? Please share.

——– Personal Note ———
Actually I have quite the same problem with David. For those who may notice, it has been awhile since my last update. For your information, I was promoted and transfered to Sabah one year ago. For the past one year, I had to put more focus on my career to catch up and deliver result. As a result, the blog had taken the damage. I have no intention of quitting that I can assure you.

p.s. For friends subscribing via email, you might not be able to view the video in my last post “Beautifully Imperfect”. I’m still working on it but you are invited to watch it here

Photo Credit – Jam1978

I’ve stumbled this video today. It’s apparently over 1 year old so I bet some of you might have seen this before. However, I feel compelled to share it with you guys since it is just that beautiful.

p.s. I don’t care if it contain the exact same message as a movie by Robin Williams. A diamond will always be valuable irregardless of how many times it had been resold.

p.s.2. A few friends had informed me that the video is not viewable to those receiving the feed by email. I’m really sorry about that and am still working on solving it. Any ideas?

Credit to ThinkFamily

Holding to a commitment is like holding a very hot rock, the chances that you will continue to hold it is nearing zero. But with time, it will get easier since the rock will become colder.

Now the above example is a very nice way to describe motivation, but what on earth are you going to say to yourself in order to avoid dropping the rock at every single seconds. Remember, it is a very hot rock.

How to sustain your motivation 24/7. That is one of the biggest secret of motivation. Believe me, you can easily motivate a person. Some people are doing this everyday to their employees. Sure, they will be motivated, but after 1 hour or so, their motivation level will start to deteriorate and before you know it, you will have to give the exact same speech to them. And what worse is that it may not work this time.

Enough about other people, how do YOU sustain your motivation through out the day?

The Method

I don’t know about you but this is what I did. I will imagine that the things that I do have a very direct impact to my loved ones. Let’s look at that burning rock for example. Just imagine that your 1 year old daughter is sleeping in front of you, and if you let go of the burning rock, the rock will fall onto your beloved daughter. Will you let go of the rock now?

I don’t know about you, but I will definitely hold the rock firmly even though I will lose my hand in the process. I’d rather die than letting it hurt my daughter.

Applying It In Real Life

How to apply this in real life? Hm.. one example would be convincing yourself that if you cannot finish that pile of work in front of you, you will have to surrender your food and your children will be hungry for the night. Imagine the look on their face when you go home with no dinner for them. Imagine them crying themselves to sleep.

I better finish off my pile of work now.

Photo Credit – Image Editor

Duh! I wonder if this is your first reaction to the summary of this post. Of course it accumulates. Everything accumulates. Just like a coin, if you found one coin today, and tomorrow you found another one, that will make two coins.

But wait a minute, this post is meant for more than just compounding interest or wealth generation. It is one of the most interesting lesson I’ve learnt the past 2 months.

The story

I was very stressed that day. With all the problem I was having with work, one of my staff was giving me more problem. He did one expensive mistake and I proceeded by calling him up and showed him where he did wrong. Of course as his superior, I had to be slightly tough with him. It was a really serious mistake. He however didn’t take it that well. Instead he just walked out the door without saying a word.

With so many other problems, I chosed to let this one go. I just buried my anger and focused on other things at hand. The keyword here is “buried“.

This is where I make a mistake. It turns out anger accumulates too. That same staff was caught one day trying to steal scrap iron. He was caught red handed with the scrap iron in his motorcycle. Of course he denied putting it there. He even started shouting at other people angrily.

I was there. And even though this kind of things had never bothered me before, I felt an intense anger building up immediately at the staff. There was even one time, I almost slapped him. I’m stressing the word “Almost” here.

Lesson learnt

I suddenly realized. I never slapped anyone my entire life. That incident itself was nothing to be angry about. I could just bring the staff to the police, make a police report and deal with it accordingly. It seemed that the anger I buried was still there. It accumulated every time I got angry and in the end, it exploded.

So guys remember.. your emotion accumulates.

What ever your problem today, do something about it today.

• If you’re angry at someone, forgive him that same day.
• If you miss someone, call her and tell her that.
• If your friend keep telling joke about you and you hate it, show that you hate it.
• If you are stressed with your boss, talk about it with your boss.

– What do you think? –
Do you have any story that describe accumulation of emotion?

—— Personal Note ——–
I actually talked to my superior about the stress I’m having. This is his exact words – “Do you know why you are stressful? It’s because you don’t know how to manage the small things. Bla bla”. I ended up being more stressed.

But deep down, I know that I have attempted to solve my problem. That itself is a very comforting emotion.

Photo Credit – Darkpatator