The Problem with Problems

Sometimes the way you think can get you stuck in your problems.

The problem with problems is that sometimes they can get you stuck, think of a problem as a dilemma, a hurdle, or and an obstacle that you need to overcome. Maybe your problem is something really complicated that you need to figure out, or it’s just something that’s causing you some type of bother in your life.

Quite simply; a problem is something that gets you stuck.

Some problems have simple solutions, other problems eventually sort themselves out. But sometimes people get so mentally stuck in their problems that their whole lives seem to go on hold. When there’s this inability to see a way out of the fix you’re in your anxiety and worries build, often things just seem to get worse, and eventually, your mental and physical health can start to suffer too.

I’ve become a problem expert in fact I’m also a full-time GP, if you don’t already know GP stands for General Practitioner which is the name we use in the UK for a family doctor. My typical working day is filled with consulting as many patents as I can in short ten-minute slots. If the walls of my consultation room had ears it has probably heard almost every problem you could imagine.

So in effect, my vocation is listening to problems and it has given me the perfect opportunity to collate and research the types of problems that people have and also why people sometimes get mentally stuck in their problems too. About twenty years ago I became interested in the tools used in CBT, Neuro-Linguistic Programming otherwise known as NLP, Coaching, and behavioural change techniques. I wanted to deliver medicine with an additional element of coaching, signposting, and psychological support for my patients to augment their traditional medical care. After all of this additional training what became apparent was that I started to see patterns in the problems people had, and these patterns were caused by distortions and biases in how these people were thinking.  Most importantly this also showed me where the opportunity was to really start helping these people too.

I started to document and research these distorted thinking patterns, and I started to see some amazing examples of how people could really change their lives by implementing some really small changes in how they think.

In 2018 I was nominated for the Health Care Award at the 2018 NLP International Conference in London. In my nomination, I gave examples of some of the tools I had developed over the years to help people who seemed to be stuck in their lives.

“We chose Jeff by looking at the feedback he received from delegates at his seminar. He was motivational, humorous, and provided useful examples for people to take away and put into practice.”

ANLP 2018 Coaching in Healthcare Award, at the ANLP International Conference.

Getting the award from my fellow NLP and Coaching professionals was the catalyst that convinced me that I really needed to get this my knowledge and methodology structured into a series of courses that could help people throughout their life, and especially when they felt stuck.

Then after a turn of fate that resulted in a nasty leg injury, I realised two things; firstly, that perhaps a middle-aged man really shouldn’t be snowboarding as if he was still a teenager, and how important the right mindset was in the healing process and my future rehabilitation. But also the enforced rest from the injury gave me the time away from my day job to start getting my research, my blogs, and the articles I’d been writing for years organised together into the courses we are now releasing via the Juvenate platform.

I know what problems people get, and I also know why people get stuck mentally in their problems too. The problem with problems is not just having the problem, but also that when you get stuck your life can really go on hold too.

Our articles are all about the problems, cognitive biases, mental hang-ups and distorted thinking patterns that can cause you trouble. Our courses take you on a journey through this world of problems whilst also showing you some of the ways that some people think that has led them to their success.

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