8 Minor Adjustments You Can Make To Solve 80% of Your Problems

Change The Inputs to Alter the Outputs

Most of your worries aren’t real problems.

Mark Twain once said, “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

You’re the architect of the majority of your suffering.

The way you think about things is what’s causing the trouble.

This means solving many of your so-called “problems” is just a job of rewiring your mind a little.

You’ve gotta change the inputs to alter your outputs.

These 8 minor adjustments will solve around 80% of the challenges you’re facing right now.

Try them out and see for yourself…

1. Assume everyone has good intentions

You can’t read anyone’s mind.

We might try to rationalize things based on context but nobody knows exactly why others do what they do.

Assigning ill reasons to their actions just adds to life’s pain.

Don’t do it!

When you assume everyone has good intentions, you’re much more likely to approach others with kindness, which creates a positive feedback loop, even in the most brittle situations.

For example, I got stopped by the police in Ghana yesterday for no apparent reason.

They said they were doing a routine stop and search, but they ignored several cars that went passed.

I’ve been told numerous times the police here regularly profile people and find ways to get bribes from those who look better off than the average Ghanaian.

I ignored this warning and completely complied with everything the officers asked of me without kicking up a fuss.

When he finished the search, he checked my roadworthy and noticed it expired 2 months ago — I wasn’t aware.

He saw the shock on my face when he told me, and realized I wasn’t raised in Ghana when I handed him my international driving license.

He then told me, “This is an offense in Ghana. I’m supposed to issue you a fine and some other consequences, but because you’ve been so respectful, I’ll let you go. Make sure you fix it before you next move your car!”

I thanked him and left.

You're more likely to approach someone with kindness when you assume they’re acting with good intent.

When you’re kind to people, they’re likely to respond with kindness in return.

Moral of the story: assume everyone has good intentions.

2. Avoid negative speech

Your words create your reality.

When you say things such as “I can’t,” “It’s impossible,” and, “This won’t work,” you’re teaching yourself how to think.

Your mind is programmed by the words you speak.

This sentiment is further echoed by neuroscientist, Andrew Newberg, M.D., in his co-authored book, Words Can Change Your Brain.

In it, he states, “A single word has the power to influence the expression of genes that regulate physical and emotional stress.”

This is why I’m so careful about the music I listen to…

Speaking negative words increases activity in your amygdala, which is the region of the brain responsible for reacting to perceived danger and pain.

Once it’s activated, stress-producing hormones are released.

This makes it difficult to process your thoughts and it impacts your overall performance.

When you utter profanity and negativity, your subconscious takes it literally.

But the same is true for positivity…

According to Newberg, positive words strengthen regions of the brain that promote cognitive functioning and stimulate the motivational centers of the brain.

Basically…

You can create the world you inhabit, for better or for worse, simply by the words you speak.

Refrain from using profanity and negativity.

Less “I can’t,” “I’ll try,” and “It’s impossible.”

More “I can,” “I will,” and “I’ll figure it out.”

3. Celebrate more often

The worst mistake you can make is rushing into your next objective without acknowledging the one you’ve just accomplished.

It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small, wins deserve to be recognized!

Our brains are wired to respond to rewards.

When you do something that releases dopamine, you’ll capture that behavior and seek opportunities to do it often.

Celebrating allows you to associate difficult tasks with pleasure.

This is how I trained myself to love waking up at 5 a.m. and going to the gym…

After every session, I give myself a big round of applause and fist-bump everyone in my vicinity as if I’m some athlete who’s just won a competition.

I also used this technique to teach myself to enjoy writing every day.

Once I’ve written a blog post, I’d follow it up with 30 minutes to an hour of Call of Duty — depending on the client workload I’ve got.

Start celebrating more often to reinforce good habits.

4. Decide you MUST achieve your goals

Most of the time, getting the things you want in life is a decision.

It’s your choice whether you wanna pay the price or not.

The only reason many people don’t realize what they want is because they leave too much uncertainty in the air.

Instead of saying, “I shall,” or “I must,” they say “I’ll try…”

This gives them the license to put in half-hearted effort and give up when things don’t go to plan.

They're not certain about making what they want come to pass — it’s just a hopeful thing.

Remember what we said above: your subconscious takes the words you speak and thoughts you think literally.

If you wanna stand a chance of making what you want come to pass, you must make a decision.

This means you must figure out the necessary actions you must take to increase your likelihood of success and enforce them every day.

5. Define “Failure” as “Not taking action”

How you define things determines the impact they have on you.

For example, if see failure as not achieving the outcomes you want after taking certain actions then it’s likely you won’t take action out of fear of being a failure.

It also technically implies you’re not a failure in your little world, but in reality, you still won’t have the outcomes you want.

When you change the definition of failure to “not taking action,” it becomes easier to manage the supposed pain of not getting the outcomes you want right out of the bat.

This is why Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work,” when he was asked about his missteps on the path to discovering the light bulb.

Reduce the pressure you put on yourself to achieve your desired outcomes by focusing on the process.

6. Don’t waste energy on hate

Poison doesn’t have to be something you consume.

It can be something that consumes you… Like an emotion.

Hate is that emotion.

Hate is an emotional parasite that dulls your vitality and depletes your health.

According to PsychMatters:

Hatred also triggers the mind to try to predict what the actions of the person being hated may do, as a way to protect you, but this leads to further anxiety, restlessness, obsessive thinking and paranoia, which also then impacts negatively in the way you engage in relationships.

It’s important to note that all these reactions affect only the hater, and not the hated, breaking down your nervous — immune — and endocrine system, and your mental well-being.

In other words, being a hater is doing more harm to you than it is to anyone else.

Take action if there’s something in the world you don’t like but want to fix.

If you can’t do anything about it, you’re better off forgiving and forgetting.

You’re doing more harm to yourself by being a hater.

7. Don’t take yourself seriously

You’ve probably seen this rinsed out on people’s Hinge profiles, but it’s true…

Don’t take yourself too seriously.

Being able to laugh at yourself from time to time not only makes you a happier person, it also makes you more powerful, influential, and appealing to others.

One study in 2011 examined a group of people’s reactions to funhouse mirror images of themselves.

The findings of the experiment revealed those who laughed at images of themselves more often showed “fewer signs of fake smiles or negative emotion.”

According to the study’s author, Ursula Beermann, not taking yourself too seriously can mean you’re better prepared to acknowledge you’re not at the center of the universe, which is more likely to draw people closer to you.

It also means you’re able to step back and take an objective look at yourself or mistakes you’ve made from an external perspective.

TLDR: Don’t take yourself too seriously.

8. Don’t try to win every argument

Sometimes, your sanity and the relationship you have is more important than being right.

Many individuals are easier to deal with when they believe they’ve won — give them their victory.

“Be the bigger person,” as my Mom used to tell me.

There’s a wealth of empirical evidence to suggest arguments are not the most efficient tools to change minds.

Don’t waste your time.

Focus on coming up with a solution instead of trying to put across your points.

Final thoughts

You’re the architect of the majority of your suffering.

The job of solving many of your so-called “problems” all falls on rewiring your mind a little.

Here’s the 8 minor adjustments you must make:

1. Assume everyone has good intentions 2. Avoid negative speech 3. Celebrate more often 4. Decide you MUST achieve your goals 5. Define “Failure” as “Not taking action” 6. Don’t waste energy on hate 7. Don’t take yourself seriously 8. Don’t try to win every argument

When you change the inputs, the outputs will change by default.

Thanks for reading!

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