If nobody calls your vision arrogant, you’re probably not thinking big enough.
Your favorite problems can be anything — related to your work life, scientific questions, your love life, your health, wealth, or humanity as a whole. The only important thing is to settle on problems you can contribute to. To find twelve worthwhile problems for your life, consider the following questions:
- What are you curious about?
- What have you always pursued?
- What puzzles you about life and society?
- Which problems you can’t stop thinking about?
“Every time you hear a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!’”— Richard Feynman
Once you know your favorite problems, you don’t need to work on them constantly. Your mind will look for answers while you’re focusing on something else.
Here are my current ones:
- How can I enjoy life more?
- How do I sustain my child-like curiosity about everything?
- How can I meet folks who are more ambitious than me?
- How can I help others make more money?
- How do I maintain my lifting routine?
- How do I become a better storyteller?
- How can I help change our education system to have more hands-on learning?
- How do I engineer serendipity in my life?
- How can I increase my optionality?
- How do I build a team of inspiring people with shared values and long-term vision?
- How can I spread Adlerian psychology to more people?
- How do I build a brand that outlasts me?
Most of your favorite problems won’t have a single solution. The goal is not to be done with them. Your questions will stay with you or evolve, sometimes for years or even decades.
Until We Meet Again…
🖖 swap