A few must-reads if you want to master creative problem-solving   

Problem Solving isn’t about waiting for genius to strike, it’s a skill you sharpen with practice, the right tools and an adaptable mindset. Over the years, I’ve found books that completely transformed how I approach challenges. These aren’t just theories, they’re practical frameworks, real life stories and insights that turn problems into opportunities. Stick around, today we’re diving into how these books can help you rewire your thinking, break limits and tackle even the toughest obstacles.

[0:40]
I’m Igor Kheifets, and this is The ListBuilding Lifestyle. The podcast is for anyone who wants to build a wildly profitable email list working from home. If you’d like to make six figures, travel the world and help people improve their lives in the process, this podcast is for you. I also invite you to claim a free copy of my best selling book, The List Building Lifestyle Confessions of an Email Millionaire at www.igorsbook.com
Get the free book plus $3,000 bonus package that includes my best capture page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints, visit www.igorsbook.com for details, And now it’s time to claim your List Building Lifestyle!

[1:26]
“Thinking Inside the Box” -by Jacob Aagaard- It’s a really cool book that basically goes to show one thing and that, that creative people, creative solutions -should I say- they’re not a result of really creative people and just somebody who’s a genius, rather, they are a result of focusing on the limitations that you’re facing with any particular problem that you’re dealing with right now.

The key lesson is that you must focus on the limitation, because it’s really hard to problem solve in front of a white board, in front of a limitless possibility field, because then your mind doesn’t have anything to grab onto. But if you’re solving a particular problem with very specific limitations, you can then grab onto the limitations, and you sort of use them as your launch pad to come up with different solutions.

[02:25]
Now, as far as problem-solving for, let’s say marketing! A book that comes to mind is “Made to Stick”, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, a really cool book about how different marketing challenges were solved, I like that! Another great way to become a better problem-solver is to actually read, sort of like social-psychology books, the likes of the “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely or “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. These books, they used to describe lots of social experiments that expand your horizon, as far as how people behave and how different situations play out. So, that just gives you more arsenal to work with, when you’re problem solving.

[03:30]
If you haven’t studied “The Pareto principle”, I recommend you check out a book called the “80/20 Daily”, it’ll make you a better problem solver, for sure! Because, you’ll be able to kind of find the essence of the problem, and therefore go and find the solution. Really well written, touches upon every area of your life, whether it’s health, relationships, personal happiness, productivity, really good stuff! “80/20 Daily”, it’s called.

[04:04]
Another great book for business-problem solving is called “Simplify” by Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood, highly recommended. As far as communication-problem solving, so when you need to have difficult conversations with people, or when you need to make a deal with somebody, I think, “Never Split the Difference”, takes the cake for me, as probably the best negotiation book there is.

[04:35]
The kind of books I like to read, though, like one of my favorite types of books is when they break down different moves, situations, things, or to read biographies or to watch documentaries about famous individuals where they were faced with a particularly difficult situation, and they found a way out of it, like a real life situation.

Because oftentimes, in life and in business, by the way, you’re faced with a problem without realizing that you’re playing 3D chess, if you will. So, rather than looking at things from a 2D perspective or just seeing things like this, in front of you, you can actually break it down into many different directions in many different landscapes, if you will.

Yeah! So, for example, a good book like that is if you read Elon Musk’s biography, it’s called “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future”. That’s a great example! A book like that, where they just tell you lots of stories about Musk that he was facing, lots of challenges he was facing, and the solutions he used to overcome these challenges. And, you’re just, that’s when you learn to appreciate the kind of entrepreneur he is.

I pass no judgment on the kind of family-man he is, or the kind of politician he wants to be, or whatever! But as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, as a problem solver, you don’t need to go look any further than Elon Musk about solutions and how to approach different problems. The guy’s just on a whole nother level. But with him, though, there’s another component that I think we have to mention, that is he’s just relentless! In a sense that there’s no limits to what he’s willing to do to achieve the goals that he’s trying to achieve. I’d say his line, everybody has a line they’re not willing to cross for one reason or another. I think Elon Musk has no line. I think that line for him is so far out that he doesn’t even see it on the horizon.

For most of us, however, that line is right there. Most people who want to start a business, for some reason, they’re in their comfort zones, as far as what they’re willing to do is right here! They can make one step to the front, to the back, to the left, to the right, and they’ve hit the line. They’ve reached their limitations! Now, these limitations are entirely self imposed, mind you, entirely self imposed! Unless we’re talking about a physical limit, like, from a standpoint of, let’s say, my physical body can only jump so far, I can kick the ball only so hard. I can do only so many push ups and so on, right! That’s a physical limitation. And again, I could have taken steroids, yada yada! But, in business and generally, in life, that line is really self-imposed. And so, we tend to impose the line of the limit so close, rather than being willing to just expand it.

[8:11]
There’s this book, it’s called “The Answer” by John Assaraf and Murray Smith, and it’s a two part book. I actually read it way back, before I was even making money. And that book is broken down into two parts. First part is all about “the law of attraction”, the metaphysical part of it. All about thoughts and energy. But it’s a business book. Because in the second part of that book, there’s lots of examples of different businesses and business owners overcoming different challenges.

For example, there’s an example of this dentist, a children’s dentist, that was trying to build his business, but he would always bump into an issue that the parent would need to bring the kid to the dentist, however, that would require the parent to take time off work. So, this business owner came up with an amazing solution, and that is, he started calling limo companies in his city and made a deal with them.

Now here’s why, so limo companies apparently do an incredibly thorough background check on all of their drivers, almost like embassies do. So, limo drivers tend to be at least based on what it said in that book, I really don’t know if it’s true, but limo drivers tend to be highly trustworthy. At the same time, when are the limo drivers busiest? They’re busiest in the evening, and typically over the weekends and holidays, but typically late at night, right? Because if it’s a bachelor party, if it’s some sort of corporate event, it’s happening in the evening.

So, he figured that they would be willing to give them a low rate in the mornings on weekdays, because the drivers aren’t working anyway and the car is just sitting there. And then they would pick the child up in a limo, bring to the appointment, the doc would do his thing, and then they would take the child back home. So, he was able to create a scenario where his customer, child, was picked up from home in a limo, driven to the dentist appointment, like there’s some rock star, then taken back home, and the parent wouldn’t need to actually do it themselves.

So, he ended up solving all of his problems and creating a better scenario for his business. Again, I don’t know if this is a true story, or if it’s a made-up story, but it’s an example of the way an entrepreneur can solve a problem by thinking in 3D chess, right! Most dentists wouldn’t have thought of a limo company, if that makes sense, right? So, he was definitely thinking about what we call “outside the box”.

[11:05]
One book recommendation I can give you, and I’ve given it to you several times now. I’m actually going through it right now because I’m dealing with a particular issue. It’s called “Courage to be Disliked” by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi. And this is a book, it’s just eye-opening! Because what it does, it kind of challenges the entire philosophy of today’s school of thought about psychology, that’s based on Freud, and it introduces a different concept altogether that I’ve never heard about before, called “Adlerian psychology”.

And so, here’s the basic premise, Freud said, I believe, I’m not like an expert by any means, I’m just kind of using it myself. So, Freud said that childhood trauma causes us to behave a certain way. So, let’s say we have a parent that abuses us as a child, and therefore then we find a partner that is also abusive to relive the same pattern. So, we’re basically, what this means, are trapped forever in this abusive pattern, right! On one hand, it can explain why you behave a certain way. On the other hand, it’s depressing, because you’re basically, you’re messed up for life, right? It’s like, “Oh, you were abused as a child?” “yes”, “well, then you’re going to be abused forever. I’m sorry to say that, but at least we know why!” But it doesn’t help if I know why, if I can’t fix it, so knowing why I’m screwed up doesn’t help me unscrew myself!

Now, Adlerian psychology actually says that you create feelings of being abused in order to avoid dealing with something else that’s even more uncomfortable, okay? And that is a game changer! Because what Adler did, he basically flipped the script, and he said, “No, it’s not that you’re a victim of abuse. It’s actually you’re creating, you’re yourself deciding to feel abused, so you can behave a certain way”. And that can flip the script and kind of make you not only realize why you’re acting a certain way, but also stop acting this way.

So, I think that’s a lot more empowering than playing the victim, because I think playing victim doesn’t help you, doesn’t help the world, and doesn’t help you succeed at all. In fact, the victim mentality, generally speaking, simply doesn’t serve you. It does not allow you to empower yourself to go change something about your life.

And this victim mentality, I was struggling with this victim mentality for ages, at least until I was like 33, 34 years old, I was constantly playing a victim and pretending I’m a hostage of circumstances, of taking personal responsibility for choosing to live life a certain way. So, I think that’s tremendous!

[14:20]
Oh, and one more book. That is, I would consider a problem solving book, but it’s also like, it’s like half problem solving book and half inspirational book, that kind of, it picks you up, if you will. It’s called “The Obstacle Is the Way” by Ryan Holiday. That book is really cool, the whole premise of Napoleon Hills, equal, like every failure brings a seed or holds a seed of an equal opportunity, have you ever heard that phrase? So, “The Obstacle Is the Way” is the expanded version of this. It’s lots and lots of stories about how the very thing that made you fail, or the very thing that caused you to stop in your tracks, or the very, some devastating thing that happened to you, how that thing leads to something much better, if you’re open to seeing it.

[15:26]
Thank you for listening to The List Building Lifestyle, get access to the previous episodes, transcript of today’s show, as well as other exclusive content at www.listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. Also remember to claim your free copy of my best selling book at www.igorsbook.com. It explains how I made millions with list buildings starting from scratch, plus I’ll give you $3,000 worth of free bonuses, including my best landing page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints. Go to www.igorsbook.com, now to claim your free package!