don't let amplified problems steal your joy

📣 Quick Announcement!

I’m making a big change to my letters. Starting next week, I’ll be featuring stories, lessons, and goals of people I believe embody “wellness-based living” in addition to my own thoughts and lessons.

But I need your help!

Please answer these 4 questions to let me know what you’d like to hear from featured guests!

A verse I’m thinking about

I’ve made it a personal goal to be better at reading my Bible daily. This week, this verse has stood out and stuck with me:

“They are one people… nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them”

I’ve been chewing on it for the past couple of days. If you aren’t familiar, this quote is God’s commentary on humans trying to build a tower to Heaven. He marvels at their capacity as a collective. He determines what they are trying to accomplish is not right. He divides them by giving them different languages.

I think there are three things of note here:

1. Do not underestimate the power of a shared vision
   If you are building something… a business, marriage, or better physique, spend time aligning your vision and goals with your teammates and partners. A shared vision is a vision that becomes a reality.

2. Don’t build towers for yourself
   The vision you have matters. A vision for selfish gain isn’t a vision at all. Don’t build a business to build riches; build a business to solve a problem. Don’t build a marriage that serves you; build a marriage that benefits everyone around you. When you build something, build it for more than your own gain.

3. Recognize what you are capable of
   “Nothing they propose to do will be impossible for them”, this is God, talking about us. If He believes you are more than capable, you should too. I don’t know what dreams, goals, or visions you have for your life, but if you have a shared vision and a vision that is greater than you, nothing is impossible.

A framework you should be able to identify: PAS, or “Problem, Amplification, Solution”

There are a bunch of frameworks in the world of marketing. One of them is PAS or “Problem. Amplification. Solution”.

PAS is a selling framework used by many marketers to incentivize purchases. They first, identify or create a problem for their potential customers. Then, they amplify the severity or impact of that problem with ads and content. Finally, they offer them a solution to that problem and validate it with “results” and “testimonials”

Here’s a very interesting (and famous) example of PAS in action: Listerine.

The history of Listerine:

Listerine was founded in 1879. Listerine was sold and marketed as a surgical antiseptic. In the early 1900s, Listerine was sold over the counter as a personal care and cleaning product, but it didn’t gain much traction. That’s until the owner Gerald Lambert created the term “Halitosis”. After coining the term, Listerine ran multiple ad campaigns that amplified the negative effects of Halitosis.

Here’s one below:

The result? Sales boomed with annual sales going from $100,000 to $4,000,000 in six years, to now having a valuation of over $15,000,000,000

But let’s review what Listerine did.

They…

1. Identified (created) a problem (Halitosis)

2. Amplified it (halitosis makes you a victim)

3. Offered a solution (buy Listerine mouthwash)

The problem with amplified problems

This is a fun example because it’s extreme. Not every household brand got that way inventing a medical issue to sell a cure!

But PAS is a sales framework that has been proven to work, and as such, is used by almost everyone. While not inherently bad, it’s important to be able to recognize because brands and influencers have gotten REALLY good, at amplifying non-existent, or inconsequential problems to see you something.

I see people bogged down by problems that aren’t real and time, and its not just products that you can buy on Amazon:

• Men and women trying to hit aesthetic goals because its been sold as ideal on social media.

• Entrepreneurs and young adults starting businesses rather than getting job because they’re promised “freedom”

• Women, and less so men, getting products and surgeries to change their appearance because something is “wrong” with them

• Successful 9-5ers who feel like losers because they don’t make $10-20K a month is “passive income” from real estate

• Lonely and unhappy individuals who long for connection but have been sold a lie that they “deserve better”

Many of these problems only exist because of the attention we give them. They are the fruit of people selling something convincing us that something is wrong when it isn’t and they can make us believe that we need to meet unnecessary standards or chase unrealistic desires, such as the perfect body or vast wealth, perpetuated by media and societal norms.

It’s why we need to identify the voice that amplifies these problems and turn them off, or down…

Action Step: Identifying Amplified Problems

You have enough problems to deal with. Your time, resources, and attention are better served elsewhere than worrying about or striving to achieve amplified problems, but to redirect attention we need to turn down the noise.

We do this by separating our real problems and desires from amplified ones and then turning off, or down, the voices that are amplifying them.

I like to do this with the following exercise:

1. List what I want in life and what solutions I think I need (the same want can often be filled with different solutions)

2. Asking myself what problem, gap, or hurt the want or solution solves

3. Asking myself if it really solves the problem (Amplified problems are almost always attached to tangental solutions. )

4. Decide if it is consequential, or a real problem (often times its not)

5. If it’s not, ask myself who is amplifying this problem and creating a desire in my heart to fill it?

6. Identify where they’re amplifying it, and find ways to turn down the volume so I can pay less attention to it (amplified problems without attention disappear)

Bonus: Turning up the amps on positive influences

I’ve talked about PAS in a predominately negative light throughout this letter, but like any framework or tool, it can be used for good or bad.

For every grifter and snake oil brand trying to sell you a crappy product, there is a brand trying to do good and save the world. Likewise, while there are voices in your life that amplify the wrong problems, there are people in your life who amplify your chosen problems and offer real solutions and support to tackle them.

Make sure you turn the amplification dial in both ways: up on good influences and people who truly want to help you, and down the voices amplifying problems to offer you their solutions.

Surface area of accountability

Each week I’m increasing the surface area of accountability by sharing updates on my biggest goals. Currently, it is to lose weight and decrease body fat. This week was meh. Did great on prepping food, and hit all for of my Hyrox workouts for the week, but splurged a little too much on NYE and Brunch on Sunday.

Locking in this next week though 💪