I wonder how many of us can tell the difference between problem solving and firefighting. Here’s a quick clue: If we find that we are regularly returning to jobs that we thought were completed only to have to redo them, over and over again, then perhaps we are firefighting. This is because problems or jobs that we have mistakenly thought that we had tackled adequately were most probably not resolved properly the first time around. We most likely only did a quick patch-up job in the hope that the issue would somehow just go away. It often doesn’t. If we are constantly firefighting, frantically putting out one fire after another, then we probably need to take immediate action to remedy the situation. This is because firefighting consumes valuable resources and saps our energy. Over the long term, it can damage not only our wealth, but also our health.

Tough love

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