THE PROBLEMS PAY RULES
Every problem has a price, and every problem pays.
Carry a problem and it charges you interest. Collect on it and it pays you. Those are the only two columns on the ledger. Under the Rule are thirteen rules for keeping it, one per chapter.
RULE SLIP No. 001313 RULES
- 0:00Break one and you pay.
- 0:01Keep it and you collect.
- 0:02Find the rule you're breaking.
- 01Say "Good."One word in the two seconds after bad news keeps you in control of it.CHAPTER 1 · GOOD.
- 02Say it out loud.As long as a problem lives only in your head, you can negotiate with it. Out loud, it becomes real.CHAPTER 2 · SAY IT OUT LOUD
- 03Nobody is coming.Stop waiting for the check, the call, the promotion or the person who's going to fix it. That's good news.CHAPTER 3 · NOBODY IS COMING
- 04Don't trust the calm.Calm is dangerous when you've lost sight of the vision. Ask what it's costing you.CHAPTER 4 · TERRIFIED OF CALM
- 05Ask why until you're back at the beginning.And the answer isn't someone else.CHAPTER 5 · WHAT THIS IS TELLING YOU
- 06Price it. Then fix it or walk away. Never carry it.The price is what you pay. The cost is your opportunities.CHAPTER 6 · EVERY PROBLEM HAS A PRICE
- 07Stand where the information is.Not where the report is.CHAPTER 7 · STAND WHERE THE INFORMATION IS
- 08Make the smallest move into uncertainty.Three steps, not fifty. One change, kept.CHAPTER 8 · THE SMALLEST MOVE
- 09Rebuild. Don't patch.Band-Aids fall off, and a patch is a minimum payment.CHAPTER 9 · BAND-AIDS FALL OFF
- 10Lift the fire blanket.Bring hidden problems into the light on your schedule, before they burn the house down on theirs.CHAPTER 10 · LIFT THE FIRE BLANKET
- 11Let it hurt. Make it stick.A lesson isn't learned until it hurts, and a lesson you file is a bill you've agreed to pay again.CHAPTER 11 · A LESSON ISN'T LEARNED UNTIL IT HURTS
- 12Same muscle, every room.The ledger has the same two columns at work and at home: what you're paying, and what you're collecting.CHAPTER 12 · THE SAME MUSCLE EVERYWHERE
- 13The bigger the problem, the bigger the pay.Once you can collect on your own problems, you get to collect on other people's.CHAPTER 13 · THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM, THE BIGGER THE PAY
HOW TO USE THEM
Not once, front to back. One chapter at a time.
When a new problem lands, don't start the book over. Go to the rules, find the one you're breaking, and go to that chapter. Read the ledger at the end of it, and do the one thing.
That's how the book is meant to be used: every time something breaks.
THE LEDGER · WEEKLY
Switch one line. Every week.
One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map.