Problem Detective - How To Resolve Life's Problems

Most people spend their entire life stressed without ever giving a single thought as to what it is they really want or what's important to them. See, I'm here to cut through all that noise, connecting you to yourself and the life that you were meant to live. I used to slave away at a corporate job that I hated, but I broke through the social norms and pursued my passion. As a result, I own my own coffee company, I'm espresso sommelier, and I get to travel the world. You, too, can live a life that you love, but it starts with getting clear about what you want. It starts with a new decision. I'm your host, Donnie Rouse, and you are listening to the podcast One Life Problem Detective. You've got problems, and we all have problems. If you are living that, it means that it is inevitable that you're going to be faced with problems. The key to it, though, is to make sure that you're constantly solving better problems. So every area in your life, wherever you are, whatever you want to change, is going to require you to identify a problem, identify the appropriate action, and to take that action. So where, you know, where a lot of people, I feel, get confused, yours truly is that we, we may know the problem and we're not taking the action, or we're completely oblivious as to what the problem is. And as a result of that, we don't take any action, or we're taking action, but it's not moving us past that block, past that problem. I'm going to share with you a story. This has been a. One of my favorite categories of my life is the category of my health, because I'm always trying to improve. Not trying. I'm always improving my health because the health is so vital, not just to how I show up here, if I'm, you know, with you guys here, but if I'm. How I'm selling my coffee, but also the energy I bring to life. And when I. When that energy starts to wane, when I'm feeling tired, it just sucks everything good out of life. And now all of a sudden, life, it's like a dredge. And the easiest thing I could think of is when you think of when you're in pain, when you're in pain, all of a sudden, like, you know, it takes the joy out of it. I mean, some people are able to focus and still find the joy despite the pain. I am not really one of those that does it that well. And so the best thing you do is to resolve it. And so this way you can move forward so I'm going to give you a story about my health and how I'm looking to improve it. So this way I could kind of give you the lessons of how to identify and how to solve problems. So in Miami, actually, prior to Miami, more than six months ago, I was starting to get like this sensation in my abdomen area. I'd gone to my doctor, and my doctor, first lesson, always get multiple, multiple opinions whenever you get any kind of diagnosis. I went to my primary care physician and he was like, oh, you know, he told me he was certain that I had hernia. Very nervous about this. I started doing what everyone does, right? You look up, what is hernia? And then I started to get nervous about hernia. Went to a surgeon, and the surgeon's like, sorry, brother, I don't see anything. How often do you hear that you have no hernia. I will not operate on you. I'm like, all right, thank God, but what the heck is it? So then I went back to my primary care physician, like, you know, several times after, and he's like, I am certain. You know, I am certain you have a hernia. And I'm like, all right, great. All right. He's certain of it. Maybe I'll get another opinion. So I went to a different surgeon. He's like, sorry, man, I don't see anything. I'm like, okay, well, he's certain of it. These two surgeons are. Don't see anything. And then I'm like analyzing my mind. I'm like, well, you know what? When he made me cough, you know, one person touched me one place. One person touched me slightly different place. You could take that many ways. But. And then, so. And then I scheduled a. Another appointment with the. I think it's called gastroenterologist, if I'm even pronouncing it correctly. And because my. My primary care physician was giving me like all these things, like, you know, you should get a, you know, do the mri, get a colonoscopy. Like, all this stuff scaring the out of me. And like, so I'm nervous. I'm like, my mind's floating. I'm like, worst case scenario, like, what could it be? And. And then I started trying to self diagnose myself, which I'm sure all of you have done as well. And looking at it, I'm like, well, what the heck? You know, what could. I'm looking up, like the colon, like, how do you. If there's something wrong with the cold? What do you. What are the symptoms? And I was trying to feed Myself answers with one without knowing what the hell I was even looking at, Right? I had no clue. There was no I. No certainty as to what. Where the even problem was, let alone how to address it. So I had an appointment with a gastroenterologist. And he was, you know, he was poking around there. He's like, all right, you know, where do you feel the pain? How often do you feel the pain and describe the pain? And he's feeling around my abdomen. He's like. He's like, it's muscular. It's something within the muscle because of what. What you're describing. Like, you know, you would cough, you'd feel a little pull. You do weights, you'd feel a little pull. Don't feel a hernia. But it doesn't mean that, you know, it could be the start or it could be, like, fat tissue going through it. He's like, we don't know. But I'm feeling very confident that it is just exactly that. And to give you a little bit of a different side of it, I was going to a chiropractor. And it's funny how, like, you know, when you get these different inputs, it's like God sending you. Like, you know, when God speaks to us, he speaks to us through angels, which are people. That's what I believe. So I went to this, to this, to the chiropractor, and I told him what was happening. I was like, well, he's. Well, I'm not going to check you for a hernia. He's like, but let's. Let's poke around there. Let's just see what's going on. He poked his hands. You know, he was digging. And he's like, all right. He felt my psoas muscle. My psoas muscle was like, super, super tender. So he started, you know, poking there. He's like, yeah, wow. He's like, that is really, really tight. And then he felt, you know, showed me by poking on the other side. And the other side, there was no cessation, but on the right side, it was like. It was a very, very tender. And so that was like, kind of like a light went off in my head. I was like, all right, interesting. Like, he. He was doing that, and it started to feel a little bit better. Then he was like, hey, just keep coming and, you know, we'll fix it. And I'm like, well, I don't have that many visits left on my. For the chiropractor. I was in yoga last night, and I was talking to the yoga instructor. I Said, hey, I had this, like, this. This. This inkling to. To ask her about it. So I was like, question. So ask. How do you stretch it out? Oh. She's like, oh, come with. Follow me. And she gave me this little ball to lay on, and she's like, just lay on that until you feel. You know, you'll feel it. And she looked at the possession. She said, yeah, that looks like the right spot. And then she goes, do you feel like your heart like it's beating in your stomach? I said, yeah. She goes, that's because whatever. I don't know if it's a vessel that's pressing against the psoas muscle or whatever it is. That's what it was. She goes, that's how you know you got the right spot. So I was laying on this ball, and then all of a sudden when I got off, all of a sudden I noticed that I was, like, a little bit flatter when I was laying on the ground on one side. So then I repeated the same exercise on the opposite side, and I noticed I felt a lot better. She gave me the ball. She was here until you get one. Just take this home and, you know, do in the morning, do it at night. And so I did that. I redid it when I got home that evening, and then I did it again in the morning, and I noticed that all of a sudden, I started standing up taller and feeling better. Like it was less tension there. Did it resolve that little. That pulling that I was feeling? No. And the point I'm telling you about this was this was my intention behind my health, was to gain flexibility and range of motion. As a result of this journey, I started going back to weights because I wanted to put on a little bit more muscle mass. In Miami, I wasn't really doing weights. I was just doing bands. And as a result of that, just put on a lot of lean muscle, but not mass. So now I was back here, I wanted to do weights, and I was like, all right, well, what is it that I really want? Like, yeah, I want. I want the weights because I want to build out my body, and I want to look good. Like, that's part of it, the aesthetics, but, you know, but that's not real health to me. Like, I want function, so I'm going to be changing my workout again. But most of all, I want flexibility and I want range of motion. So when I came home, I started doing yoga. I joined a different gym, and it started doing yoga three days a week. And all of a sudden I started, you Know, like, I've always. I've done yoga in the past, but it's almost like I forgot what the benefit was and I started to kneel. I was out one night, I was at the gym, and I went to a Pilates Reformer because I'm going to start doing Pilates as well. And I was on the Reformer. And then I noticed I straddled the Reformer and like, I was. This is interesting. I had not been able to open my legs like that in a very long time because my hips were always so tight. After that Pilates Reformer class, I went into yoga, and then we were doing, like, we're sitting cross legged, and I noticed that while I was still kind of leaning back slightly, I was able to sit cross legged better than I have been in many years, which also blew my mind. I was holy. It almost made me emotional because it's something that I hadn't had in many, many years. I'll give you one more little thing. I started doing back squats. When I was doing squats in 2017, when I competed, I couldn't. My hips were not allowing that to happen. So as a result, I had to hit the sleigh and do the leg press. This past week, I started getting on the squats, and I started doing squats with no pain. And why I tell you this was because the actions needed to match what, you know, to match the. To solve the problem. Like, the problem was like, I was. I was not flexible. The problem was I was having this pain here, which, you know, the two were kind of related. The point was that I kept searching for answers until I had an answer that made sense to me and that I could solve. And so with the tightness, I was, gary, I'm gonna. I want to do weights, but let me mix in something for. For. To get more flexibility, to get more range of motion. And that was the. Taking those actions was the very next step, right? Because I would sit in a chair and then I would go to the gym expecting to push weights. And the weights don't loosen you up, right? The weights make you tight. So as a result, I was just feeling tighter and tighter. My body was aching. And that's not the only thing happened that implemented. Another habit I implemented was every hour or so, I would literally go right on my yoga mat. My yoga mat's behind me, and I would just stretch and I would do all these different movement exercises, and all of a sudden it livens me up. And then after that, I would do like, a couple minutes of just meditation and Then it would center me and then I could go about the day. And the days have been much, much better as a result of that because often it was the pain of sitting that would prevent me from really getting into my work. So why am I telling you? What does all this have to do with you? The most important thing you can do is first to identify, to make sure you're addressing the right problem. Like what is the problem? Think about any area of your life. Maybe it's your health. What is it you feeling? What is it that needs a change? And then when you know that, ask yourself what needs to be done to resolve this right simple question. But it gets right to the point. And a lot of time you may not know clearly exactly what to do, but you have a general idea. At the very least you can start looking for answers. As I was doing with all those, you know, taking those doctor's visits. I didn't take one person's answer and say, okay, this is it. I looked at multiple, just so this way I can get a well rounded, you know, what advice and for my own opinion. And then once you know, you have to take the action. It's so easy, so easy to get sidetracked to doing things that aren't going to move you forward really, really quickly. I was doing this with my business. It's so easy for me to get stuck in the, doing the urgent stuff that's not important in the sense that it's going to move me forward and grow the business. And this year when I came back, when I was in Miami, it gave me a good refresh because I was starting come summer, like summer I get burnt out because I'm like, I'm going 100, you know, I'm going 100 miles an hour. I'm brewing, my body aches and it's, but it's non stop. And then once winter comes, I get a little bit of a lull. And the, the point I was trying to make with it is that there are tasks that I need to prioritize in order to, to grow, to expand my production. And those are these, literally those are the most important tasks that I have ahead of me. But while I'm doing this, I could be like, oh my God, I promised this person I, at some point I would, I would brew this particular espresso. And as a result of doing all these, what it's really doing is it's distracting me from getting the, from solving that problem. For in this instance, I'm working on just using different ingredients for, for A scaling process. So when I am doing my brewing, I need to either. I could either devote time to doing flavors, which. It might give me the moment's gratification, right? It might increase revenues for that particular market, but it's not going to move me forward long term. And so as a result, I had to ask myself, what. Several times, and I keep doing this. So what is the most important? I do this every single week. Every single week, I lay out my outcomes and say, what is most important for me to do this week that is going to move me forward? And if I don't ask that, then I'm just like, firing the gun in the air and then I waste. I'm wasting time. So by doing that now, all of a sudden, I prioritize, yes, it would be great if I could do that. Not to say that I can't brew these flavors. This way I. I can make the customers happy and bring more revenue to the business, but it's not the priority. The priority is for me to take that next step for my expansion. So this way I can grow the business, and then that is a priority, and that's what I put the focus on. So that is what I wanted to share with you. Again, know what the problem is. Know what action you need to take. And take the action. Because, I mean, it's so easy just to get stuck and where. Like, where you are and for years to go by and not really make any progress. And let me just caveat that with this, is that don't beat yourself up. It's so easy to be like, oh, my God, I'm still here. What the hell? Like, my. Myself. Give my. I am the perfect example of this because I have my hand in a lot of different projects, and none of them that I'm willing to give up at the moment, but I have to kind of shift priority priorities. And it's so easy for me to, like, say, compare myself to someone else and be like, wow, wow, they literally just launched this brand and look where they are now. But everything has. It's. You're on your own time. And the worst thing you could do is to beat yourself up for it. Because by doing that, you're literally gonna. You're not gonna take any action, and you. You do less. So give yourself some grace. Realize that life isn't, you know, it's not this linear line, but it's kind of this big mess. Right? Embrace it. Right? It's not a bad thing, but it's this mess. But as long as you keep moving forward, as long as you keep taking steps, that you're making progress. And so that is what I wanted to share with you. I hope you are. At the very least, by listening this, you're able to just kind of look at the different categories of your life and say, okay, like where in my finances, what's the problem? What's the pain point in my finances? Okay, and what's causing this? Right? So this way I could stop and then what can I do to start to improve this area? Same thing for your health, same thing for your relationships, right? I know sometimes I could go in the pattern of just being like really pissy around my family, you know, but I. But it's a pattern. And as a result of that, that pattern becomes grain. It's almost like you just, it just happens habitually, but you have to be conscious of it, you have to break it, you have to set an intention, see that outcome before you even get there. So this way, when you show up, you are ready for, to face whatever it is you're ready. When those old patterns show up, those old ways of feeling, you know how to shift it, you know how to start to move it. And then you do that long enough and all of a sudden now you're in a different, very different place. So that is it for this podcast here. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I hope you look at your life, you identify those problems, and you start tackling them one after the other. Because that is what life is about. But it's also frees you up to just experience more of life, right? Because as you solve these things, you become more. But also little things tend to add up. And soon all of a sudden, all these little things, they start to jump on your back to the point where they become too heavy and then you can't move, right? Shake them off, get rid of those things. So I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you did, please give it a thumbs up hit. Hit that subscribe button. If you know anyone who is dealing with this, who needs some clarity and they just don't know where to start, share this with them. Or if you know anyone who doctor says they have a hernia and they do not share that with them as well. But in all seriousness, I want you to know that you were meant to love your life. And it's not to say that life is going to be easy all the time, because that would be, that would be a lie, right? But we choose how we show up. And we also get to choose our life experience. Doesn't mean it's going to be peaches and cream all the time. But there's something very special when you can look back at your life and realize even though it was hard, you would not change a single thing. So I wish you guys the most passionate versions of your life that you are willing to commit to. And if you have any questions, send them to me via my website at www.d-o n n y r a u s dot com. Again, donnyrous.com that is all I've got for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you so so much for spending the time with me. I know you could be putting your time anywhere, but you're here listening to these words. Hopefully they inspired to some action. Remember, you only get one life. Live fully, live passionately, and most of all, live now. God bless you guys and I will see you again next week.