In the last lesson, you learned how fear and discomfort could rule your life. Fears drive us all. We’ll now look at the fastest way to solve your challenges. Direct solutions are fast and simple but rarely easy. Direct solutions require the ability to deal with discomfort at a high level.

When you’re trying to find a solution to any challenge in your life, you may feel uncomfortable considering the direct approach. These solutions often require more self-discipline, courage, and stamina than we’re used to demonstrating. 

However, most of us also know at our core that if we could get ourselves to follow through on a direct course of action, our challenges would be resolved.

Consider these scenarios:

• If you want to lose weight, one possible direct solution would be to limit yourself to 2,000 calories a day and exercise for 60 minutes each day. There is no doubt that anyone who adheres to this program would lose a significant amount of weight. But how many people can get themselves to stick to it for 12 weeks?
• Suppose you wanted to work for a specific company. One possible direct solution is to go LinkedIn and start networking with people that work at the company. Then you could simply continue asking every employee about job opportunities until to get one at the company. This solution is simple. However, doing it could require a significant amount of courage and fortitude.

Simplest and Fastest

If you consider them closely, many of life’s greatest dilemmas have relatively simple solutions. The only real challenge is figuring out how to become the type of person who can implement a direct approach. Most of us spend a lot of time coming up with ways to work around our lack of discipline or courage.

This is why developing your self-discipline and your ability to take action when you’re afraid is perhaps the essential self-improvement area. 

When you work on these two attributes, your ability to implement immediate solutions improves as well. You no longer have to take the long way around.

Why Direct Solutions are Challenging

While direct solutions seem reassuring because they’ll work, they’re also disturbing. There’s an obvious solution just staring you in the face, but taking action seems so challenging. So why do these approaches seem so daunting?

For your answer, try considering a direct solution to one of your challenges. Ask yourself, “Am I really willing to follow through on that? Am I willing to transform myself into the type of person that could take these actions consistently?”

What if the answer is “no”? Clearly, you were probably hoping for a “yes.” But at least you now have your answer: if an obvious solution exists, but you won’t take it, you are the source of your own challenge. 

Admitting this may not be easy. You may become aware that you’re choosing to be timid or undisciplined. However, the discomfort caused by this realization can be enough to generate some of the personal changes you’ve been seeking and propel you toward the happier life that you deserve.

Tips to Practice Using Direct Solutions

As with anything, practice makes perfect – or at least it makes it easier to accomplish what you desire!

Try these tips to help you acquire the propensity to use straightforward solutions:

1. Practice daily. As you go throughout your day, find tasks that you could do better or quicker with direct action. Then do it!
2. Dare yourself. Come up with tasks that would be only a small challenge to you and dare yourself to do them. Make it something that would yield a positive benefit for you if you were to do it. This increases both your motivation and your skill at going direct.
3. Move on to more complex challenges. Break down your challenge into more manageable tasks, which, when completed, will result in resolving the challenge. Now, you’re resolving your challenges. As you get more practice, move to more immediate solutions.

As you learn to evaluate direct solutions to your challenges honestly, you’ll discover that they provide multiple avenues for growth. Not only do they often offer the quickest way to achieve your goals if you have the fortitude to pursue them, but they also give you opportunities to examine yourself. And what’s not to like about that?

Direct solutions are effective. They are even more effective when your creative abilities are at their best. The next lesson covers creativity and how you can apply it to overcome obstacles.

Here’s what you need to do today:

There are two parts to this assignment:

1. Continue building your ability to be uncomfortable. Expand your efforts from the last lesson.
2. Identify a significant challenge in your life. Create a direct solution to that challenge. Put it into action. Take note of the results. Can you improve your direct process further?