Building a company can be exhausting. Just when you think you’re starting to get some real traction…

Boom! Another dumpster fire to put out.

• An unhappy customer informs you that they’re cancelling their service.
• A key employee decides to quit with no notice.
• A new AI tool hits the market, threatening to make your core product obsolete overnight.

It can feel like your entire existence as an entrepreneur is about solving problems that nobody else wants to deal with. But what if that’s actually a really good thing?

If there were no external issues (customer problems to help solve), then there would be no need for your products or services. And if there were no internal issues (sales problems, marketing problems, or staffing problems to solve), then there would be no need for your creativity and leadership.

Problem solving and entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand. Fixing these types of external and internal issues is how you create value.

But in order to master the meta-skill of creative problem solving, you need to get clear about which types of problems are going to have a real impact, and which types of problems just aren’t worth your time or energy.

What will you do today to start focusing your limited energy on high-impact challenges?

Will you be more selective about the types of problems you take on, and stop wasting your time on things that are “urgent but not important”?