Gravity Problems: How to Deal with Unsolvable Challenges in Your Life

Life consists of many challenges: some are easy to deal with, some are more daunting and there are some problems you could solve, but just seem almost too overwhelming to deal with (Anchor Problems).

There is even one more level - problems you just cannot solve: Gravity Problems.

Photo by Pickled Stardust on Unsplash

Having gravity problems is a bummer because you cannot get past them, but there are certain strategies you can use to work around them.

What are Gravity Problems?

Gravity exists.

You cannot change that.

The Stanford Professors Bill Burnett and Dave Evans use this as an analogy to define Gravity Problems as those types of problems you just cannot solve. It doesn’t matter how much time and energy you put into the solution.

But you aren’t completely stuck.

We didn’t remove gravity, but we managed to build rockets to travel to space.

So yes, you can get past a Gravity Problem.

How you can get past Gravity Problems?

Keep things actionable.

Let’s consider an example (a very common example in our fast-paced corporate world).

“I’m always feeling stressed out.”

This statement is non-actionable.

It lacks specificity: why am I always feeling stressed out? The statement is too vague and doesn’t offer any direction towards a solution.

You are stuck.

But you could formulate it differently

“I feel stressed out because I have too many responsibilities at work and I struggle to manage my time effectively.”

With this problem, you aren’t stuck.

It is clearer because it points out specific reasons for the problem, like having too much work and struggling to manage time. It includes a path to figure out how to fix things.

Try to formulate your problems in an actionable way. It is not that easy, but it will save you from feeling stuck with Gravity Problems.

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Thank you for reading!

If you enjoyed my article, don’t forget to take a look at my quick read on Anchor Problems too!