Episode 434: The Solution Is Inside the Problem

00:03
Picture a team of Navy SEALs stacked up outside of a door in Afghanistan. They don’t know what’s inside. Could be armed men, could be hostages, could be nothing. They can speculate, they can imagine worst case scenarios, they can wait for more intel, but the longer they stand there, the more dangerous it becomes. See, the answer isn’t outside the room. And right now, there’s very likely a problem in your business or your life that you are standing outside of.

00:32
We’ll come back to that in a few minutes. You’re listening to the Construction Leading Edge podcast from constructionleadingedge.com, where it’s all about systematizing your construction business so you can have more freedom, more impact, and more wealth. My name is Todd DeWalt, and my team and I have helped over 400 construction companies eliminate chaos, grow their teams, and grow their profits over the past 12 years now since I started this podcast. Before we get started, this episode.

01:01
is brought to you by Poncho Outdoor Shirts. They’re not actually a sponsor of this podcast, but they should be because I get more compliments on these shirts than any other shirt. And Poncho Outdoor Shirts are technically performance outdoor apparel, know, designed for fly fishing in Idaho, hiking the mountains of big sky, Montana, catching red snapper in the Gulf of

01:27
Now the Gulf of America, while the sun rises majestically behind you. But let’s be honest about how most of us actually use these shirts. These are performance shirts for guys whose most extreme outdoor activity today was probably walking from the truck to the job site or being on zoom calls four hours a day. They’re, they are moisture wicking, which is perfect for when your palms start sweating because a client just texted, Hey, you got a quick question about the budget. They’re also breathable.

01:53
which comes in really handy during those high intensity zoom calls where you’re nodding seriously and trying to avoid walking away with any action items. They stretch, stretchy poncho shirts move with you even if the only terrain you’re navigating are spreadsheets, job tread notifications, and emotional roller coasters. And they look rugged enough that when you’re wearing one, people think, you know what, that guy probably just stepped out of a trout stream when in reality you just stepped away from your laptop. So,

02:22
If you spend your days in the office or behind a windshield dreaming about being waist deep in a river somewhere, Poncho Outdoors shirts let you at least look like the guy who actually got away. Poncho Outdoors. Go to ponchooutdoors.com and tell them they should sponsor the construction leading edge podcast because you may not be outdoors, but at least you look like you were. So let’s get back to the episode. So right now there’s probably at least one thing that you need.

02:52
to address, there’s something you know you need to address. There’s a problem in your business, in your life. There’s a tough conversation you need to have. There’s some financial situation. Maybe you’re seeing a financial trend. There’s an issue with your team. There’s a systems breakdown. There’s something that’s not working. There’s a hire that you need to make. There’s a role that you need to redefine. You could see it. You’re aware of the problem, but you haven’t engaged it.

03:22
yet not because you’re lazy, not because you’re incompetent, not because you’re weak, because you’re waiting for clarity. You’re waiting for more information. You’re waiting for the right time. You’re waiting for confidence, waiting for things to settle down. And in that waiting, the situation is, starting to take up more and more mental real estate and starting to live in your head. In that gap, if you imagine a timeline,

03:50
And along this timeline, there’s a dot where that represents when you recognize the problem. And then you move along this timeline, there’s another dot later on where you actually engage with the problem. And then further down the line, there’s probably another dot where you solve it. The gap between when you identify the problem and when you engage it, that’s a breeding ground for fear and anxiety. Okay. So imagine that gap between.

04:20
time you acknowledge a problem and the time you engage with it, that’s the breeding ground for fear and anxiety. And here’s what I found. Humans tend to do this. When there’s a vacuum of information, your brain will fill that information gap. People project their worst fears into that vacuum of information. You’ve probably seen this with clients. They see something or they have some questions.

04:48
get concerned and they start to fabricate these stories and fabricate these worst case scenarios. And that’s just something we as humans do. When there’s a vacuum of information, we tend to project our worst fears into it. If you’ve seen the kids movie Inside Out 2, it’s a Pixar movie and it’s all about emotions. And there’s this emotion called anxiety. And in one of the scenes, anxiety is in this room and it’s filled with cubicles and they’re

05:18
mind workers sitting at cubicles and they’re frantically drawing every possible negative outcome for the main character Riley. She has a high stakes hockey tryout coming up. So anxiety is leading this team of mind workers and they’re all drawing these worst case scenarios that could come up. This is what anxiety does. And that’s what is happening in your head. As soon as you acknowledge a problem, you become aware of a problem, your brain starts to project

05:47
your worst fears into it, creating these vivid images of worst case scenarios. Think about a time when your phone rang and you looked at it and it was the bank or it was that customer or it was a subcontractor, that difficult employee. Where does your head go immediately? Probably to a worst case scenario. When your bank calls, it’s probably if you’re like most people.

06:16
You assume something bad has happened, right? When you identify a problem, but you haven’t engaged with it yet, you start rehearsing conversations that haven’t happened. You start imagining reactions that may never occur. You are free acting to a situation. There’s reacting to a situation where you actually have some data, but in many cases we pre act to something that we don’t even know if it’s real or not. And you start projecting these outcomes.

06:44
drawing these mental images of worst case scenarios. And then think about this. That’s just one issue. What happens when you start stacking multiple unresolved issues together, especially if you’re a business owner, you probably have several of these. It’s sort of like having a computer with 40 different tabs running and each of those tabs has a video playing and there’s sound and it’s just an overwhelming amount of noise. Just like

07:11
When you have that going on with your laptop, everything slows down, the system lags, you feel overwhelmed, but you can’t really point to why. It’s because of all of these open loops, all of these open tabs, all of these unresolved problems. That’s hesitation. So what happens when you identify a problem and you haven’t yet engaged that problem. So it shows up at two o’clock in the morning, you wake up thinking about these issues while you’re sitting at the dinner table.

07:40
with your family and your family could tell you’re there, but you’re not really there because your mind is somewhere else. It’s in your tone with your team. When you walk into the office in the morning and you don’t even say hi to them or you’re kind of checked out, you’re frustrated, you’re short. You could tell at your stress level, you could feel it, that tightness in your chest or wherever that stress shows up. And the longer you wait,

08:07
the bigger the problem becomes in your imagination. Right? But here’s the truth. Most of the time, the problem is actually smaller than the story you’re telling yourself about it. Right? Most of the time, the problem is actually much smaller and easier to solve than the story you’re telling yourself about it. There’s something I’ve noticed about successful CEOs and successful entrepreneurs. They engage with problems quickly, not because they have

08:36
less fear, not because they’re more talented, but because they understand something critical. They understand this, the problem cannot be solved from a distance. Here’s what they realize. The solution to the problem is inside the problem. Successful people who GSD, who get shit done, they recognize that the solution to the problem is inside the problem. The antidote to anxiety is not information.

09:05
They don’t focus on standing outside of the problem, gathering information, talking to people about it, thinking about it, ruminating about it, speculating about it. They understand that the antidote to anxiety is action, not information. The antidote to anxiety is action. So most people think they need more information. They think they need more clarity to feel better before they take action. Most people think that there’ll be this feeling.

09:33
warm glow that comes on them that says, Todd, you’re ready. You’re ready to engage with this problem. Successful people realize they have to engage with problems before they feel ready. They have to start before they feel ready. We’ll get back to the show in just a second. If you’re a construction business owner, let me ask you this. Are you feeling trapped in your business? Maybe you can’t take a real vacation without being on call 24 seven or when you finally

10:01
do step away, you know there’s going to be a mess waiting for you to clean up when you get back. Or maybe the constant stress of putting out fires and carrying all the responsibility and making all the decisions is keeping you up at night. And you’re worried about losing a good employee or it’s affecting your health or worse, it’s keeping you from being present with your family. What if instead you could finally step back from the day to day chaos, take back control of your time and build a business that runs profitably and smoothly.

10:28
even when you’re not there. If that sounds good, I’d like to invite you to book a free business evaluation call with my team. And just one call will help you get crystal clear on three things. The root cause of the biggest problems in your business, the goals and vision you want to achieve for your company and your life, and we’ll map out a personalized roadmap you can follow to make that vision a reality. Look, we’ve helped hundreds of construction business owners systematize their business so they can work less, earn more.

10:56
and actually enjoy their lives. And we can help you too. The first step is up to you. Head over to constructionleadingedge.com forward slash apply to book your free call or just click the link in the show notes. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take the first step toward freedom today. All right, let’s get back to the show. So remember that SEAL team outside the room that I talked about at the beginning of the episode. I caught an interview with Jaco Willink, the author, one of the authors of Extreme Ownership. And he talked about this, situation.

11:26
David Seals are stacked up outside the room, wondering what’s inside. Speculating, is there going to be a belt fed machine gun behind a sandbag bunker pointed at the door? Will there be civilians in there? Is there a booby trap? They don’t know what’s going on. They stand outside the door, wondering what’s inside, speculating, hesitating, and second guessing. And here’s what Jaco said. He said, the solution to the problem.

11:55
is inside the problem. All of those questions about what’s in the room, Jaco said the answer is in the room. You just need to open the door. This is his advice. If you’re wondering what kind of problems you’re going to face inside the room, first step is you just have to open the door because the answer is in the room. You can’t solve the problem from a distance. All those questions are answered inside the room. So speculation

12:25
does not reduce risk. Indecision does not reduce risk. Waiting, gathering information often does not reduce risk. Engagement does. Remember the antidote to anxiety is action, not information. But our brains typically want information and we think we can get 100 % of the information we need to make a decision. But the antidote to anxiety is action. So here’s how you can apply this in three steps. So think about

12:55
this problem that you’re standing on the outside of, you’re aware of this problem. We want to do three things to solve this problem, right? Step one is to name the problem very precisely. See, anxiety thrives in ambiguity. Anxiety thrives in vagueness where things are murky and cloudy. You cannot defeat what you cannot define. So you need to define the problem, name the problem precisely.

13:26
Not something like, things just feel chaotic or I’m stressed or we’re not making enough money or these customers are a pain in the ass, right? You need to be more specific. You need to define the problem like this. Schedules aren’t being updated and our clients are getting frustrated. Maybe even more specifically, schedules are not being updated like they should. And our clients are asking questions about when their project is going to be complete.

13:53
or clients are not following our process for making selections and it’s affecting our schedule. If you’re talking about profitability, defining that looks like something like this. Every month we’re losing an average of $5,000 to rework, $7,000 to giveaways and $7,000 to schedule delays. We’re losing 19 to $20,000 a month to profit bleeds. Last quarter, our net profit was $100,000 below our target.

14:23
These are very specific, well-defined problems. They’re concrete. They’re observable. They’re observable facts. They are specific. Remember, anxiety lives in ambiguity, but clarity immediately shrinks that distortion and blows away the smoke and leaves the real problem that needs to be solved. So step one is to name the problem very precisely. Step two is to collapse the timeline

14:54
between when you identify a problem and when you engage it. The time between when you identify a problem and when you engage it, that’s the breeding ground for fear. So once you identify a problem, engage with it as soon as possible. I’m not saying you have to have all of the answers to solve it, but engage with it. Open the door. Remember, the solution to the problem is inside the problem. So you need to get into the middle of the problem. Problems can’t be solved from a distance.

15:22
So you need to get into the middle of the problem. As soon as you identify an issue, pick up the phone, make the call, schedule the conversation, pull the reports, look at the bank account, send the message, address the misalignment. You don’t need the full plan before you engage. In fact, you probably will never have a full plan or if you try to make a plan before you even engage with the problem, it’s going to be incomplete and it will be wrong. So

15:51
You don’t need a full plan. What you need is forward motion. It’s a lot easier to steer a car that’s moving than one that’s sitting still. So you need forward motion. You need to get in the middle of the problem as quickly as possible, collapse the gap between the time you identify the problem and the time you engage with it. So remember anxiety feeds on delay. Anxiety feeds on delay that the time between

16:16
When you identify the problem and when you engage it, that’s the breeding ground for fear and anxiety. So you want to collapse that. So collapse the timeline between when you recognize the problem and when you engage with the problem. Step number three is to replace imagination with information. Replace imagination with information. Remember, we tend to project our worst fears into a vacuum of information. Now it’s time to step into it and gather the facts.

16:47
What’s actually happening? What are the observable facts? What are the numbers? What is the other person’s perspective? What are they really concerned about? What assumptions are being made? Here’s a great way to start a conversation like this. Start with the observable facts and say something to the effect of, Hey, Mr. customer or Ms. subcontractor or Mr. building inspector or Ms.

17:16
employee, etc. could say, look, here’s what I’m seeing, state the observable facts. Tell me what I’m missing. Tell me what’s going on. You sent this message, I received your email, you seem pretty frustrated. Tell me what’s going on. And nine times out of 10, reality is going to be far less dramatic than your imagination. And if it’s not, what if it is as bad as you imagined? Well, that’s good because now you’re actually dealing with something real and you can start to solve that problem.

17:46
Even if it is one out of ten times when it really is bad or maybe worse than you thought. Good. Now you really know and you’re starting to actually solve the problem instead of just living in that breeding ground of fear and anxiety. If you’ve heard the story of David and Goliath, there’s a detail in the story of David and Goliath that a lot of people miss. I missed it most of my life until just a few years ago. There’s a verse in the Bible where it says when David came out and he saw Goliath, it said,

18:15
David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the giant. David ran at this giant. David was a child with a sling and some pebbles in his hand. And Goliath was this giant who had a shield and a sword and a spear and everybody was, all these professional soldiers were terrified. But David didn’t circle. He didn’t wait. He didn’t overanalyze it. He didn’t ask all the bystanders.

18:46
What they would do, he ran at the giant. He closed the distance. You see, here’s what I found is giants tend to grow when you stare at them from a distance and they really grow when you turn your back and you run from them. Problems tend to grow when you turn your back and run from them. But as soon as you turn toward them and you start moving toward them, they shrink. And the same thing is true with giants and problems. Problems get bigger.

19:15
when you avoid them. Have you noticed this? When there’s a problem that you’ve been avoiding, it just gets bigger and bigger in your mind and it grows legs and it’s hairy and it’s stomping around causing all sorts of mental problems, maybe even causing real problems. But as soon as you face that problem and you start, you get into the middle of that problem, it gets a lot smaller. So problems get bigger when you avoid them. They get smaller when you run at them. So take some advice.

19:45
from the story of David and Goliath. If there’s a giant in front of you, run directly at it. So right now there’s very likely a problem that you’re standing on the outside of. You’re gathering information, you’ve recognized that it’s a problem, you are thinking about it, speculating about it, there’s a conversation that you don’t really want to have. Maybe you’re saying, it’s not fair, I shouldn’t have to deal with this bullshit.

20:12
shouldn’t be this way. Maybe you’re beating yourself up. I never should have gotten us into the situation or this is my fault or here we are again. Could be with a customer or subcontractor. Maybe it’s with your business partner. 20 plus years ago, I remember I had a business partner in my business and I remember looking through the bank statements and I recognized some really strange charges, some ATM charges or money was being taken out of the business account from an ATM.

20:41
And then some unusual charges I didn’t recognize. And it appeared that my business partner was taking money out of the business account for personal uses, which was a real problem because things were not going well with the business at the time. And I remember recognizing that problem and thinking, Oh man, this can’t be, why would he do this? This is going to be so uncomfortable to address this problem.

21:10
put it off for a little while. And then it just, I just, I learned that these problems don’t go away. I don’t get to decide if I’m going to address a problem. The only thing I get to choose is when I address the problem. So I walked into his office with the bank statements, said, Hey man, this is what I’m seeing. What am I missing? It looks like you’re taking money out of the business bank account through ATMs on the weekend. What’s going on? And that’s exactly what was happening. Once I addressed it, we.

21:39
came up with solution and then unfortunately we ended up parting ways. So you may be in a very similar situation, could be a business partner, employee, subcontractor, client, could be a conversation with your spouse or your child. One thing I’ve noticed is there is never a good time for those difficult conversations, right? When things are going well, you don’t want to have that difficult conversation. When things are going bad, you don’t want to throw gas on the fire.

22:08
But you don’t get to decide if you’re going to address the problem. You just get to decide when you’re going to address it, how long you’re going to let it grow. So there could be a financial situation you’re avoiding. There could be an issue with a team member. It could be something you need to do. There could be a hire that you need to make. You need to hire somebody on your team. You need to make some dramatic changes to your business. And every day you wait, it gets bigger in your mind. It grows. You start to speculate.

22:37
You’re in that breeding ground of fear and anxiety and you need to close the gap because the anxiety antidote is action. The antidote to anxiety is action. It’s not information and the solution to that problem, whatever you’re facing, the solution to that problem is inside the problem. So if you’re realizing that hesitation and delayed engagement, these things are keeping you stuck in firefighting mode in your business.

23:06
That’s not a personality flaw. That’s usually a systems issue. So if you’re a construction business owner and details are falling through the cracks, you’re spending too much time on firefighting, it just feels like the business is too dependent on you. That is usually a systems issue. So if all of the problems are landing in your lap, that’s an indication that you’ve outgrown the current design of your business, right? That’s an indication that your business is too dependent on you. It’s an indication that your business

23:36
may be designed to fail without you and more effort won’t fix that. Think of your business as a system and that system that is your business is producing exactly what it’s designed to produce right and that design worked at a certain point it just doesn’t work at this level. If you’re seeing these problems if you’re frustrated at the results it just means that

24:03
The design of your business isn’t working at this level and it’s not going to get you to the next level. In fact, it’s going to hold you back. So if you want different results, you need to redesign the system. You don’t need to try to plug in software or one person or some AI tool. You don’t need better time management. You need to redesign the system. Systems scale effort does not. So if you want to build a construction business where

24:32
problems don’t pile up on your shoulders where your team handles issues without everything coming back to you. There’s a link in the show notes where you can schedule a business evaluation call with my team and we’ll get on that call. It’s about 30 to 40 minutes. We’ll dig into your business, find out where you’re stuck. Also find out how much hidden profit there may be in your business. Some people think they need to scale their businesses to make it more profitable, but the reality is in many cases.

25:01
There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars of hidden profit in the business already. So we’ll talk about that and we’ll talk about what a new design for your system will do for you. So maybe even thinking about scheduling that call, but you have questions. You’ve been listening to this podcast for weeks or months or years, and you’re wondering things like, what can Todd’s team do for me? How does this program work? How long does it take? Am I good fit? Is it going to work for me? How much time will it take? How much does it cost?

25:30
Where are you going to find those answers on that call? So if you’re being honest, your real questions could be, am I willing to commit to making a change or am I just going to continue to kick the can down the road? Maybe the real question, if you really dig into it is what if I give it everything I’ve got and it doesn’t work for me and then I have to look in the mirror and say, you know what? It’s just not going to work. I just don’t have what it takes. Here’s what I can tell you.

25:58
Our clients who are successful, and we’ve worked with hundreds of people over the past eight years now, clients who are successful that see results, who build a business that is designed to run without them, that’s more profitable and gives them more freedom, they do the work. They show up, follow the process and they do the work and they get great results. If you recognize that there’s a problem with your business and you recognize your business design,

26:27
is not going to get you where you want to be. you recognize that your business is giving you exactly the results it’s designed to give and you don’t like those results, we can help. Go to the link in the show notes, schedule a business evaluation call, or you can go to constructionleadingeds.com forward slash apply, A-P-P-L-Y, answer a few questions, grab a time on the calendar.

26:50
And we’ll have a 30 to 40 minute call with you. So here’s my five minute action item challenge for you. I want you to ask yourself, what is one issue that you’ve been thinking about for more than a week, but something that is just taking up mental real estate. You’ve identified the problem, but you haven’t engaged with it. And I want you to take one action that will take less than five minutes about that problem. Pull out your phone, dial the number, make the call, send a calendar invite.

27:19
Pull the report in JobTread. Pull the report in QuickBooks. Look at the bank account. Start the conversation because remember the antidote to anxiety is action. And the solution to that problem, it’s inside the problem. What you need to do is take the first step, get inside that problem. I hope this helps you. My name’s Todd from constructionleadingedge.com. Thanks for listening. See you next time.