Champagne Problems

Arjun’s note: Welcome to Edition 18. I write about Champagne problems. Please share the newsletter (linked here) with your core Whatsapp group chat and ask them to subscribe 😄 

Problems. Issues. Mishaps. Pitfalls. Your day never ends. The dice lands on every number but yours. You parallel park at home but cannot in the strip mall. The ice cream never melts on the way home till it does in your car. You have issues and no one else has them. Your problems have a dedicated pin code. No one told you.

These problems are all in your head. The roadblocks are tricks played by your mind. You sought confrontation to smash the sense of ease at work. The long days were manufactured by you. Everything you grouse about is of your own making. You blame no one because you are the fount. You are patient zero for the problems that are nervously stacked, 4 feet tall on your desk. 

This short stack will fall and bury you alive. Your deadlines missed and email reminders ignored. The desk lies untouched, unremarkable, as a monument to work past due. You self imposed unreasonable deadlines and live to see them unrealised. Your pace of work was breathtaking and so is the short stack teetering on top of your head.

It is simpler than it seems. Every problem does not have to be solved. Each bullet point in your list does not carry equal weight. Everything can be ticked off at a cost. Do not pay that bill. Leave room in your life and on your list for slack. Let some things run over onto the next page. The bottle of ketchup can cross expiry and not lead to a court-martial.

Few issues in life are prominent. Everything else teases at your attention but ultimately lies in another’s wheelhouse. Chase problems, but only your own. Your affection for issues can become an affectation. You are worthy even with fewer issues at hand. Aim for equity where it matters most, and not because it seems just. A perverted sense of justice is just that.

You are defined by problem selection, and not their resolution. Big, messy, muddled, and imprecise. Career-making, back-breaking, head-spinning and toe-curling. Meditate on your choices. The issues you foster will fill your days and outline your nights. Every single time, choose champagne problems even if the resolution is not in sight.

Champagne problems are issues of abundance. What do you do if it all works out? What happens if nothing breaks? What does it look like when you hire the perfect team? What would you aspire for if you couldn’t fail? Every single one of these problems requires as much thoughtfulness as the flip side-- What do you do if it all breaks down? What does it look like when you hire the wrong people? What do you do if you keep failing? Champagne problems are difficult but so are problems that lead nowhere.

Selecting the right issues helps build a champagne life. You focus on outsized outcomes and nothing else. Selection over resolution is the switch you make for a fulfilling life. It’s earlier in the day with lesser information and a higher probability of failure. It is also an undying belief in your abilities over everyone else’s. If you give it your all, make sure that the potential outcome is hundred feet tall with edges crisped by the receding rays of the sun.