An unexpected problem can quickly erase your progress.

While in retrospect you can easily identify and remedy a past problem, how can you accurately anticipate potential problems and rectify them before they manifest?

You can identify future problems by looking at the past.

The past may not repeat itself verbatim but it can give you forewarning of patterns that can cause problems in the future.

If the pattern “Up, down, up, down” has occurred in the past and you are currently in an up period, it would make sense that a “down” period has a high probability of occurring next.

To successfully anticipate future problems, analyze past problems and their solutions.

Are the rules of the game broken or are we not playing correctly?

A common issue I see in the world at large (and some of the clients I serve) is their problem is rarely solved at the root.

It is more commonly covered superficially with the hope that “time heals all wounds” or that if you ignore a problem, it will go away or become someone else’s responsibility to resolve.

Your analysis has to evaluate both:

• The people involved (who typically bear the blame’s brunt)

• The systems and practices the individuals participate in.

“Who did XZY thing wrong?” is a question that seeks to blame.

“What are the circumstances that allowed for XYZ to occur?” is more comprehensive and, by identifying the issue's root cause, you solve this problem in the future as well.

We should habitually ask this question before we seek to levy blame towards individuals.

See Forward, Looking Backward

Not every problem can be anticipated but if we think and take a critical, analytical look at the problems we face each day, they can help us prepare for future problems tomorrow.

To do this practically, spend time reading or speaking with others about their:

• Life experiences,

• Problems they faced,

• Solutions they experimented with, and

• How they would tackle that problem in hindsight.

Once you have found a solution that solved a past problem, see if applying it to your life now can prevent it from occurring in the future.

For example, I recently learned through a biography and a story from Ryan Holiday’s book Stillness is the Key that Winston Churchill had several hobbies that helped him to decompress and think subconsciously without overstressing.

The lesson I gleaned from this was:

The better your hobbies alleviate stress, the better you can handle the pressures of the day.

This lesson prevents future problems of being stressed and burned out.

So by developing stress-relieving activities now, in the present, due to an insight that came from the past, I can solve the problem in the future before it ever manifests.

Look to the past to see what solutions you can apply now to build a more masterful future.

In Mastery,

Matthew

P.S. Starting a new round of 1:1 coaching clients in the next month.

If you are interested in having personalized help achieving your version of personal mastery, click here to book a call with me to how I can help.

The coaching program is not free or cheap but I can guarantee that it is an effective bridge to your desired destination of better personal mastery.

Looking forward to talking to you!