Classy Problems is a daily post of thinking in motion by Dan T. Rogers. Each post stands alone as a thought-provoking piece, yet together, they create a puzzle of ideas. They invite you to see things from a different angle, rethink what you thought you knew, and explore what’s beyond your current understanding.
Classy isn’t just a read: it’s a practice. Read, listen, and join us for Classy Problems Live, a 15-minute, live virtual conversation held Monday through Thursday at 12:15p PT, where we gather to reflect on the Classy Problems post of the day. No need to prep. Just connect, explore, and reflect.
More Better
I was trying to make it better.
Not better than before.
More better.
Felt like it could be better.
Wanted it to be better.
I couldn’t find anything to put in order.
Plenty of things to change.
It wasn’t asking for it.
I was. I wasn’t ready to let it go.
Wasn’t ready to let you see it.
Wasn’t ready to ship.
Wasn’t ready to reveal.
Perfection is a preference.
Preference stalls progress.
More details that keep me stuck.
It was perfectly imperfect.
The essentials were aligned.
The design constraints were met.
It was ready. Whether I was or not.
Adding more wouldn’t make more contribution.
It would be overproduction.
Still, I wanted to keep going.
To sand the edges.
To polish the polish.
To make it undeniable.
That’s where I am. Where I live.
Morthanenuf doesn’t mean settling.
It means moving,
when it’s indicated.
It’s an intentional strategy.
A reminder that perfection is a preference.
Once the essentials are aligned, the rest is waste.
morthanenuf means
it’s time to let go.
No Thanx
I saw the problem.
At least, that’s what I called it.
How I identified it.
It was waving at me.
Daring me.
Inviting me in.
I started reaching for my tools.
My words. My strategies. My fixes.
Then I made the mistake of asking.
What happens if I don’t do anything?
It’s a dangerous question.
It can lead to very scary answers.
Answers I don’t like.
Amazing when offered a free pass
I have to think about it.
Debate it. See if I am ok with it.
Ok with it?
Of course I am not ok with it?
Can I live with it?
Live without action.
Pushing my delusion of control.
Trust theboss.
Or bet on me?
Seems like it should be simple.
It’s a miracle every time it happens.
I wanted to intervene.
To make something happen.
Every move was more about me
than about the problem.
That’s when I heard myself say it:
“No thanx.”
To see if it needs me
or if it resolves itself without me.
Sometimes the most aligned move
is no move at all.
Inaction is an action.
That’s what No Thanx means to me.
Intentional inaction.
The trust to ignore a classy problem on purpose.
Better Than B4
I thought I knew the problem.
Named it.
Framed it.
Felt the weight of it.
I kept pushing against it.
It kept pushing back.
Every attempt to fix it
made it feel bigger.
Then I shifted my view.
Almost by accident.
I zoomed out.
Looked from a different scale.
A different point of view.
What felt impossible
started to look irrelevant.
It wasn’t solved.
It was dissolved.
The edges blurred.
The weight lifted.
The problem became something else.
Not fixed.
Redesigned.
No longer what it was.
Better than b4.
The problem hadn’t disappeared,
I stopped seeing it
I stopped looking at it
in the same way.
Sometimes the most effective move
isn’t solving a problem.
It’s reframing it.
Everything is Backwards
I didn’t feel like it.
Told myself I’d wait.
Until I felt like doing it.
When I had clarity.
When I felt motivated.
When I was aligned.
When it felt right.
When I felt right.
Everything is backwards.
Clarity. Motivation. Alignment.
They’re not requirements.
They’re results.
They happen after.
After I take the action.
After I risk.
After I lead.
Actions lead, they don’t follow.
I never feel like doing anything.
I think of something.
Then, I either feel good about it.
Or I don’t.
When I do, the story is I feel like doing it.
When I don’t, the story is I don’t feel like doing it.
Then, I either do it.
Or I don’t.
Regardless of the story.
Regardless of my feelings.
Feelings don’t drive my actions.
They are a signal of my mental state.
When I act the way I want to feel,
the feelings catch up.
Sure, it can be easier when everything is aligned.
It isn’t a guarantee.
I felt like running without leaving my couch.
It can be harder when they aren’t.
That’s the work.
That’s redeeming work.
To act as I want to become.
A demonstration of faith.
Faithful to the person I want to become,
before I feel like being him.
Even when I don’t feel like being him.
A Fading Echo
I thought I was aligned.
Same direction.
Same intent.
Same picture in my head.
For a moment, I was.
It felt clear.
It felt connected.
It felt right.
Then it slipped.
Alignment is a temporary state.
It fades.
It bends under pressure.
It drifts without notice.
I assumed I was still there.
Assumed we were still there.
We weren’t.
The loop of treating alignment like a place we arrive
instead of a moment we repeat.
The loop of thinking alignment is place.
Alignment is a moment.
It’s an echo.
It has to be heard again.
Re-spoken.
Re-felt.
Re-connected.
That’s redeeming work.
To stop long enough to ask:
What was my vision?
What’s my intent?
Does my action intersect with both?
Am I moving from my clarity
or my momentum?
Alignment is the intersection of
the imagined,
the meant,
the done.
An echo that fades.
The Right Place
I thought I wanted an answer.
Ideally, the right answer.
I wanted to be right.
I wanted to do the right thing.
I wanted to have the right word.
An answer feels safe.
It gives me a destination.
A place to land.
Answers don’t provide directions.
They are a direction.
They fix me in place.
An answer is a place.
They are best used as reference.
Something to compare against.
What I usually need is a question.
Ideally, the right question.
Ideally, at the right time.
A question doesn’t end the process.
It is the process.
It gives me a point of view.
An answer tells me where to go.
A question tells me where to look.
That’s the difference.
That’s redeeming work.
The intentional orientation isn’t about having both.
It’s about knowing which one is indicated.
Sometimes I need a place.
Sometimes I need a direction.
An answer pushes clarity.
A question pulls me forward.
Closer to right.
Further than any answer could place me.
The Right Time
I told myself it wasn’t the right time.
Too early. Too late.
Too not ready. Too not aligned.
I wanted the moment to feel perfect.
The right time rarely feels right.
It isn’t about certainty.
It isn’t about comfort.
It isn’t about everything being in place.
The right time is about orientation.
The intentional orientation of moment.
The internal orientation of what’s indicated to do.
Not to how I want.
Not to what I feel.
What’s indicated.
When what theboss indicates feels good,
when it looks sexy,
don’t get used to it.
My experience is that it usually doesn’t.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters is what’s indicated.
That’s redeeming work at the right time.
The right time is when vision, intent, and action
intersect enuf to move.
That’s it.
Enuf alignment enough to act.
To take action.
The right time isn’t when I’m ready.
It’s when I’m faithful.
Faithful to what I want to become
in the space that has been provided.
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Classy Problems is a daily post of thinking in motion by Dan T. Rogers. Each post stands alone as a thought-provoking piece, yet together, they create a puzzle of ideas. They invite you to see things from a different angle, rethink what you thought you knew, and explore what’s beyond your current understanding.
What is a classy problem? A classy problem is when we’ve been afforded the opportunity to figure out what to do. Time to figure it out. Time to practice. Time to discern. When faced with the time to figure out a classy problem, it is more effective to focus on what NOT to do than trying to figure out what to do. In a word: restraint. JOIN US in exploring the distinction between what to do and what not to do in the pursuit of clarity.
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