Bigger Problems, Better Life
The Unusual Path to Strength and Success
When you search for advice for difficult problems, you get advice like this.
- “Just lower your expectations.”
- “Don’t push yourself so hard. Go slower, okay?”
- “There’s nothing wrong with giving up. I do it all the time.”
- “You need to manage your stress as your first priority. Take a break.”
- “It’s okay to quit. Maybe you’re not the type who can handle problems like this.”
Of course, they are WRONG! Advice like this makes you weaker and your problems larger. You solve nothing.
The truth is, you are not fragile. You are powerful. You can solve your biggest problems with this quote.
“How many times in your life have you decided: ‘Well let’s see, I couldn’t handle so and so. I guess I’d better handle just a little bit less.’ And then the first thing you knew you couldn’t even handle that.
“What if you had said, ‘All right. Now let’s see. I don’t seem to be able to do this. Well, where’s two of them?’
“I recommend it to you very thoroughly. You can’t handle something? Find a couple of tougher ones.
“The point is that you go in reverse.” — L. Ron Hubbard
Instead of trying to get out of a problem, take on two bigger problems. Make the challenge bigger. Play a BIGGER game!
Example #1
You just got divorced and feel horrible. You can’t stop crying. You consider taking drugs, seeing a shrink or worse. But then you decide to take on two bigger challenges.
You find two people who cry whenever you bring up their divorces. You motivate them to become productive and have more fun. Immediately afterwards, they stop crying and start living. And you feel great!
Example #2
You are in charge of a big jerk in your office. He argues about everything you say. He blames you for his low pay. He gives you so much stress you can’t sleep.
You tell your boss, “Give me two BIGGER jerks to be on my team.” Your boss is amazed and says, “Sure!”
You rise to the challenge! You face them with courage and kindness. You show them how to make it go right and they follow your example. You earn a promotion and a raise.
Read How Ingrid Becomes a Warrior
Smoke rises over the hills from the invaders’ fires. The village men warriors are gone. The invaders are coming soon.
Ingrid stands at the edge of her village clutching a dagger, hands trembling. How can she fight? Maybe she should run and hide.
Ronald the Wise, an old village leader, watches Ingrid preparing for battle by stabbing a straw dummy. “You’re fighting like you’re asking permission.”
“But I don’t want to hurt myself,” she says.
He nods. “I will teach you a secret. If you can’t handle one problem, take on two bigger problems. It makes you powerful.”
He drops two battle axes at her feet. “Put that toothpick in your belt and lift these. You need to defend our village!”
Ingrid hesitates, then lifts the axes. She says, “They’re so heavy!” Ronald says nothing. She thinks, “I’ll probably hurt myself and then get killed.”
But she trains with them day after day. Her face changes. She stands straighter and taller. Ronald the Wise is right!
When the invaders come, Ingrid walks out front, axes in hand. The villagers follow—mothers, grandmothers, even girls with farm tools.
The invaders see Ingrid with her wall of fierce women and are shocked. They turn back and do not return.
Ingrid, and her warrior women, keep the village safe and prosperous for many years.
Read How Ingrid Becomes a Warrior
Smoke rises over the hills from the invaders’ fires. The village men warriors are gone. The invaders are coming soon.
Ingrid stands at the edge of her village clutching a dagger, hands trembling. How can she fight? Maybe she should run and hide.
Ronald the Wise, an old village leader, watches Ingrid preparing for battle by stabbing a straw dummy. “You’re fighting like you’re asking permission.”
“But I don’t want to hurt myself,” she says.
He nods. “I will teach you a secret. If you can’t handle one problem, take on two bigger problems. It makes you powerful.”
He drops two battle axes at her feet. “Put that toothpick in your belt and lift these. You need to defend our village!”
Ingrid hesitates, then lifts the axes. “They are so heavy!” She thinks, “I’ll probably get killed, but I’ll try my best.”
She trains with them day after day. Her face changes. Ronald the Wise is right!
When the invaders come, Ingrid walks out front, axes in hand. The villagers follow—mothers, grandmothers, even girls with farm tools.
The invaders see Ingrid with her wall of fierce women and are shocked. They turn back and do not return.
Ingrid and her warrior women keep the village safe and prosperous for many years.
Read How Joe Starts his Business Empire
Joe stands at his T-shirt store and stares at his bank account. $0.00.
Three months ago, he was full of energy. He had poured every cent of his savings into launching his dream: a small T-shirt shop at the local mall. He’d taken out a loan. He designed the shirts himself, picked out the fabric, and handled every sale personally. It was his whole world.
And now his world is falling apart.
His rent and loan payments are past due. No one is buying his shirts. He thinks, “I don’t know what to do. What was I thinking? Maybe I’ll go back to my old job.”
He searches all night for advice and stumbles onto this article, “Bigger Problems, Better Life.”
Joe blinks. “What the hell? This is different.” He reads and laughs. “Yeah, sure. Haha. I can’t even handle ONE small shop, but two bigger ones? No way.”
But the article makes a strange kind of sense. It nags at him. “Maybe I need to think bigger… and act bigger.”
The next day, he notices a large sports hat shop going out of business. Ten employees. Massive problems. Joe talks to the owner, makes a deal and takes it over. He thinks, “What did I just do?”
Two weeks later, he makes another deal for a failing shoe store nearby. It has 25 employees and a year of losses. He thinks, “Well, if I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail BIG.”
Now Joe owns three businesses that are losing money. The pressure is insane—but it forces him to get smart. He studies the top stores in town, learns how they market, what they sell and how they treat customers.
He realizes he’s been designing his T-shirts for himself, not for his customers.
He makes changes. He finds and sells clothing that customers want. He bundles products, promotes on social media, trains his staff to sell. His stores fill with fresh energy and new customers.
Joe turns three financial ruins into three cash machines that make him rich!
When asked how he turned things around, he says, “I stopped failing at a small game and started winning with bigger games.”
Read How Roxanne Becomes a Supermom
As long as she can remember, Roxanne dreams of being a mom. So when her baby girl is born, she cries with joy.
Six months later, she cries for a different reason. The baby screams at night, won’t take naps and needs to be cuddled every minute of the day. Roxanne stares at the ceiling, exhausted.
“No one told me how hard this would be,” she whispers. “I can’t do this. I’m failing.”
She scrolls through her phone with one hand and holds her the baby with the other. She stumbles onto “Bigger Problems, Better Life.”
Roxanne thinks, “I’m supposed to take on two bigger problems? I’ll grow stronger? I doubt it. I’ll go crazy if I try that.”
The next day, her sister asks her to take care of her twin boys for two weeks. Two wild, tantrum-throwing, juice-spilling, nap-hating toddlers. Roxanne calls them, “The Twins from Hell.”
Her sister is desperate and Roxanne thinks, “Well there you go. Two bigger problems.” She takes the boys.
At first, it’s chaos. Her baby and the twins demand her attention. Roxanne wishes she could escape. She cries.
But she reads the article again and several others. A lightbulb of hope turns on. She creates a plan.
First, she forces herself to smile and laugh. She then moves faster, creates activities and works out a feeding and napping routine that works for everyone.
Her doubts and fears vanish. The toddlers adore her. Her baby even laughs for the very first time.
She’s calm. Confident. Capable. She’s Supermom!
She even thinks, “Twins are fun. How can I get a couple of my own?”
10 Reasons Why Bigger Problems Make You More Powerful
- Your problem shrinks in size when compared to two bigger problems.
- When one of your new, bigger problems helps others, your focus shifts from “me” to “we” which boosts your mood.
- You are forced to become more efficient. You have to get more done in less time. You stop chatting or thinking and start doing.
- Instead of retreating, you start expanding. You grow as a person so you can meet your bigger challenges.
- You have less room for doubt and hesitation. Your fears become unacceptable to you and you move into action—and action builds momentum.
- When you take on bigger problems, your view of the world gets bigger. You look at the big picture and discover big solutions.
- You boost your confidence. Tackling more than you thought possible reveals more of your inner strength.
- When under pressure, you get more creative. You use your talents and resources in fresh new ways.
- Taking on more responsibility increases your influence and control. People start following your example.
- You realize you are more powerful than you knew. This one improvement helps you solve problems faster and more easily than you thought you could. You are tough!
Action Steps to Get Tougher
1. Write down a big difficult problem you feel you can’t handle.
Be honest. Name it clearly—this is your starting point.
2. Now find two bigger problems related to it.
Look for two bigger challenges. “If I could solve these two bigger problems, that will really be amazing!”
3. Prepare yourself.
Be willing and ready to take on more responsibility, become more efficient and increase your zone of control.
4. Imagine successfully handling these two bigger problems.
Ignore all fears and reasons why this seems impossible.
5. Create an Implementation Plan to conquer these two bigger problems.
Use the Implementation Checklist to help you.
Note: If you can only find and handle ONE bigger problem, go for it!