Wouldn’t you love it if someone could hand you a recipe to solve all your problems? Or at least a handout to one problem of yours – that which if you follow, you’d get exactly what you hoped for? But hold on – are your problems so unique that no one in the rest of the world faces them? And if not – are there really no people or books suggesting a solution for them? And even if you do follow up with one diligently – do you reach the same expected outcome as promised?
Maybe not. But is it possible that the actions that you took during the application of the prescribed solution of ‘problem A’ make you realize a solution for ‘problem B’? Some problem B that you encountered 3 years ago or are about to encounter in the next couple of months? Let’s find out cogently!
Let’s take my personal example. Like many people my new year resolution (for the past 3 years – ahem) has been to become more physically fit than my previous versions. While I made some progress over the years, noteworthy fitness levels weren’t achieved. Later last year I hit a new problem – the number of grey hairs just started increasing out of nowhere. Concerned, but only a bit – I acknowledged that it is yet another problem. I need to check on it later.
This year, however, I incorporated running into my weekly routine. The only action – directly correlated to the fitness goal. Sports never really being my thing, this was a completely new experience. I loved how running early in the morning elevated my mood and productivity for the day. A totally unforeseen consequence; but that definitely motivated me to run longer distances.
But as I started to run longer distances, I started getting hungrier in the early morning hours, as well as my muscles started demanding more energy. To supplement that, I began eating a heavy protein breakfast. Not just that, I also became more conscious of what I was putting in my mouth; in terms of its nutritional value.
Am I taking enough vitamin B and C in my diet? And did I drink enough water to compensate for the increased protein content? Are my muscles getting enough rest? – ok also include a bit more magnesium-based food. Fruits, greens – enough? Ok great. The only direct solution for grey hair – was using an onion-based hair oil. But used it rarely on weekends.
Days went on and the cycle continued. One day I was really surprised to find a hair fallen on my desk, that was grey at the tip and black at the root. I made sure that I was not mistaken. But again, just one instance could be an anomaly, right?
Soon enough I saw multiple grey buddies growing black from the root! Literally feeling reborn, I tried to trace back the answers.
Was it the onion-based hair oil alone? – But I only used it occasionally and the increase in the rate of grey-turned-black hairs didn’t explain that.
Could it be the food? – Certainly possible. I was getting the nutrients now, that I wasn’t before.
Could it be running? – Can also be directly possible as a result of improved blood circulation. Or maybe it also reduced my stress levels (also a cause for grey hair). But what it certainly did is, bring about the change within me to change my diet!
Could it be both? – My best guess is yes. A combination of a certain ratio of aerobic exercise and the required nutrients fusing together to give this result!
And back to the original question – Did I get physically fit? – Certainly, more than I was at the beginning of the year. In this case, the action I took may have answered my original problem. But even if it hadn’t – it did solve my other problem – the problem that I was unconsciously solving.
And that’s not all. It also did solve or certainly positively impacted my other problem that I did not think were problems. These being – Was I having a nutritive balanced diet? Was I drinking enough water? Were my lungs getting a good breathing workout? And probably many more, that I still don’t recognize.
The whole gist of this argument lies at – I started running and aftereffects followed. One action when taken as a solution cascaded into solutions for multiple problems. Did I see the whole picture before beginning my runs? Nope. Didn’t I know what a good diet is before? Not true. Could I convince myself to improve my diet? Nope. Only after running, I gained a whole new perspective on nutrition, and convince me to take efforts for the same.
If just a single action of running can reveal so many answers, how much more there is to be done and subsequently found? Take the best action you know of, if it gets you directly to the answer you are seeking – great! But if it doesn’t, it surely gives you a new perspective on looking at things and unlocks several answers to your dormant questions!
Gain perspective, for you shan’t see the whole picture.
