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Awesome problems?

Florian Hollender

Florian Hollender

— 2 min read
Awesome problems?
GenAI picture, prompt: a free climber hanging off the rock with just one hand, with lush grass directly beneath him neon

When I updated this website I thought about the theme that I want to follow here for the next time. Although this is my publicly private place, I still like to have some general direction, a common thread that stitches the content together.

The phrasing "awesome problems" is a nod towards a saying that I tend to repeat weekly, in all kinds of contexts, for years now:

You can gauge how good you have it by looking at your problems.

In other words: if life is really tough, then you do have really tough problems. Safety. Food. Shelter. If life is really good, then you still have tough problems, but of a totally different kind. They might still be very real problems, but almost luxurious, not-to-be-taken-too-serious when put into broader perspective. Just like the image I have chosen for this post. When you are bouldering, you are tackling really tough problems. You can push yourself. It can be terribly important for you to solve the problem. But when you fail, there is no instant death - you might get scratched up, but you will most likely be able to brush off and get back to it.

For example, here's some "real to me" problems that I am dealing with these days:

  • Actually getting around to publishing things, overcoming my own inner censor that scolds me for my content not being good enough to share with anybody.
    -> Case in point: This post has been in DRAFT since 2023. The GenAI picture beautifully dates it!!!
  • Deciding which books to share with my team, to balance the inspiration I bring to my company vs. the perceived demand of "now they all have to read this" and the real usefulness of sharing whole books vs. key ideas
  • Managing not only time, but energy level, through work days that are filled with >10 meetings regularly, with little time in between
  • Negotiating various contracts, sometimes with a high degree of complexity and "skin in the game"
  • Figuring out how to update an image in docker (of the automation tool n8n in this example), without having to then start with a completely fresh container
  • Building up a new network infrastructure for my wife's recently expanded office
  • Finding out why the brakes of my new bike are squeaking so darned loud when wet

If you want to join me on that journey, sign up and get notified when new problems / posts drop!

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