What stands in the way becomes the way.
MARCUS AURELIUS
One of the oldest texts known to us is the Enûma Eliš. It’s a Babylonian creation myth that pits Marduk, champion of the gods, against Tiamat, a dragon-like beast, mother to monsters, who is determined to destroy the gods. It depicts an epic battle to the death between good and evil, order and chaos. Marduk slays Tiamat and then proceeds to dismember her body, using the pieces to lay the foundation for all of creation. Her ribs become the sky, and her mouth becomes the ocean. Though a bit ghastly, it’s a powerful metaphor for how we can deconstruct our challenges and use them to our advantage
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IN PRACTICE
We have a tendency to blow our problems way out of proportion. No matter how bad a problem really is, chances are we’re making it much worse in our minds. It can feel all-consuming, making us believe we’re powerless, and helpless, but that’s never true. No matter how bleak or menacing a situation may appear, it does not entirely own us. It can’t take away our freedom to respond, our power to take action.Even the smallest action can start changing our circumstances.The first action can be simply pausing to examine your problem so you can begin to deconstruct it. To do this, we’ll use a technique known as the Five Whys.
THE FIVE WHYS
Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota and father of the Japanese industrial revolution, invented this technique to uncover the causes of technical problems in his company’s manufacturing process. It’s a deceptively simple method to unearth root issues and expose unexpected opportunities. It does this by breaking down a seemingly large problem into its individual components.
We can use the same approach for tackling our challenges using our Bullet Journals. For example “I can’t pay rent.” Now ask yourself why . Write down the answer. Now, challenge your answer by asking why again.Do the same for the next answer, and so on, up to five times.
We’ve now deconstructed one large challenge into its smaller components, each of which we can target separately. More importantly, in this example, we also surfaced the underlying values being threatened by this situation. Often, when deconstructing a challenge, you’ll discover what’s truly at stake. In this case, it’s not really about the rent; it’s about losing the feeling of pleasure and safety. These are two important data points that can be used to inform your plan of attack. And that is, to figure out what our options are.
Life is full of dragons. The longer they live, the bigger they become, feeding off our misfortunes, resentments, and sense of helplessness. Stare them down. Look directly into their big, terrible eyes. There, you will see your own reflection. Our challenges are mirrors, exposing our vulnerabilities, insecurities, weaknesses, and fears. As hard as it may be, don’t turn away. See them, examine them, meet your fears with curiosity, and you will discover a way forward. It’s entirely possible that your courage will be rewarded with opportunities for personal or professional growth that would have been hidden from you otherwise.
Now when things are not going my way, or when I need to work on something that doesn’t inspire me to do back flips, I think back to my Tiamat. I look around and see all the things that I was able to make from that experience. It forced me to learn how to better myself, which led to a fulfilling career, which provided the hands-on education I needed to launch my own company,which ultimately resulted in other privileges and blessings in my life to share with my family.
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