99 Problems

An idea is exciting when it’s new. But so often behind that excitement is a mediocre time sink. My struggle is to not jump straight into it, and take a few days to sleep on the idea before trying to execute.

This is why this project is so great.
Step 1 – diagnose 99 real problems.
Step 2 – find as many solutions as possible for them.
Step 3 – eliminate solutions until you land on the few gems in the group.

Rinse, repeat.

This way, by the time the idea becomes a time commitment, it has been vetted repeatedly and exists outside of the honey moon phase of excitement.

Don’t you hate it when something is advertised as FREE but when you arrive to acquire this product, its 10$ for a FREE trial, or the promotion goes “join this 3 year contract at 80$/M – the 10$ goes toward your subscription AND… THERE’S MORE…. You get a free trial after you sign up….
Same thing goes for being Cat fished into dates, business ideas, and products.

How do we limit or filter these things?

It’s cold in my apartment because the windows are single pane and poorly insulated

There needs to be a resource that teaches stoicism to young children, and a resource that teaches parents that it’s a good thing to have a stoic child.

A point from Rework – think of the last meeting you were in. Let’s assume that it had ten people, and lasted one hour. And like most corporate meetings, was a complete waste of time.

It didn’t waste one hour… It wasted ten hours of company time.

Just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to meeting issues…

Knowing I can be crucified and burned at the stakes for speaking my mind in my work place, certain social settings, and online.

Consequences:

Get fired

Ruin career

Looked at as a racist / extremist

Beaten – killed

Banishment from locations / groups / activities

 

I want to earn points for demonstrating curiousity

My floors creak and I’m always worried about waking the baby

Knowing that college is a waste of space, you want to be more educated in certain aspects without having to sell your grandmother for a piece of paper that gives you that gratification that “you know this shit”.

 

Problem: I want to be more educated and be more well rounded in the things i know without having to go through school.

Studying is one thing but when do you know its time to break from the nest and start implementing this.  Sure some skills you can start implementing right away, however some skills need to be studied thoroughly before putting into practice.

Almost three years ago, my friends and I had a long look at each other, and decided that we were all becoming shapeless blogs. A 30 day fitness challenge was born, and it launched a complete lifestyle change for me.

Doing this blogging challenge has reminded me how exciting and transformative a fun challenge can be. Need a way to curate the best ones for my needs, and consistently be doing them.

I need to make more money. But unable to concoct the “magic” product/ idea to make me not have to work a single day again.

We have all have been there a point in time where we doing something nice for someone and there is absolutely no recognition for what is being done, weather passing something out of reach, holding a door ( especially train doors that are closing), picking something up, the list goes on.

The convenience of going wireless, especially when working out, is so often negated by the thousand other issues related to Bluetooth.

I think that part of this exercise is to reframe how we approach the world. There are so many problems around us that we don’t even consider, but many can make a tangibly better world if we solve them (ie – creating a better umbrella).

But creating a mindset of seeing the world as an oyster of opportunities, versus fabricating problems to win a challenge are two different things. There is no competition, just a collaboration to find 99 Problems, and hopefully solve at least one.

Edit – there’s a deeper mindfulness lesson here. The challenge is about living in the moment, looking at the problems immediately around you. Not trying to solve obscure, hypothetical problems. This is what ruins too many businesses before they even begin.

Be in the moment, look for problems in the world around you.

Since so many people graduate from school (HS, College, even Grad School) not knowing what they want to do, then what is the point of school? Isn’t it failing students on a most fundamental level?

I’m still living in the fallout of that failure.

Too often you find partners that Share early enthusiasm, but when one’s interest wanes, it drags down the other (you).

Idea – An app that detects a lull in a good conversation and interrupts them with a well timed fart.

Is it a real problem? Is there such a thing? Should anyone work towards that goal? And if more people do, will the world be a better place? (do we want the world to be a better place?)

Idea – If it is a goal, how cool would it be to create a game that teaches you to become an ubermensch?

I wish there was a digital version of bullet journal to replace my Evernote