Solving problems makes us happy?

We’ve got problems life. In fact, life is made up of problems. And living your life is to solve them.

The author of the book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck, puts it like this - “Happiness comes from solving problems”.

I’ve never thought of it in this way. I feel real happy when I figure out a way to solve things. Even when checking off a todo list item, it’s bliss. Which makes me think - Are todos a list of problems we want to solve?

Yeah, right?

I’ve been listening to this book and I’m liking it. In the chapter that I’m talking about in this letter, he writes about problems and emotions. These are the quick notes I took from the chapter.

• You have to pick your problems. Ones that you like solving.
• What pain do you want in life? What are you willing to struggle for?
• People want good physique. But that doesn’t come with avoidance of hours of pain at gym or the pain of calculating calories. This seems like trading a problem that has high risk, for a low risk one.
• On emotions - Negative emotions are call to actions. You have unsolved problems. Positive emotions are rewards to proper actions.

Okay, that’s all I have for this week.

See you next Tuesday 👋