#38 - An Answer For Everything
"Figure-out-able"
A short post today, exploring a mindset that has come into focus for me in recent months.
Some situations are so challenging, so daunting, they appear to have no solution. There seems to be no way through, round or over, no matter which angle.
There is no answer.
Maybe you give up, move on or pass on the problem.
Maybe that’s OK.
Or maybe you haven’t tried hard enough.
Today’s rule comes from an answer to a question that any listener of Tim Ferriss will be familiar with.
If you could have a giant billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?
Marie Forleo is an author, entrepreneur and award-winning show host. She was described by Oprah Winfrey as “a thought-leader for the new generation”.
Here is her answer:
My billboard would say ‘Everything is figure-out-able.’ I learned this as a kid from my mum, and it’s fuelled every aspect of my career and life. It still does to this day.
The message is simple. No matter what challenge or obstacle you face, whether it’s personal, professional, or global, there’s a path ahead. It’s all figure-out-able. You’ll find a way or make a way, if you’re willing to be relentless, stay nimble, and keep taking action.
It’s especially useful to remember when things go wrong, because rather than wasting time or energy on the problem, you shift immediately to brainstorming solutions. I honestly believe it’s one of the most practical and powerful beliefs you can adopt.
Everything is figure-out-able.
It’s something you might want to write on a post-it-note and stick it where you can always see it, but this isn’t a motivational catchphrase; it’s an approach to living.
It gives you permission to fail and go again, to pause and recalibrate, but only to stop trying if that’s truly the right answer, supported by your genuine intention.
It reminds us that we are resourceful, capable, and adaptive—qualities that can unlock previously closed doors.
In the moments where it feels impossible, "everything is figure-out-able" doesn’t promise ease, but it promises possibility.
When you embrace this idea, challenges transform from roadblocks into puzzles, and the real question becomes: how do you want to solve it?
It’s the mindset of the successful. The achievers and the doers.
In the end, there's always an answer— it’s just waiting for you to work it out.
What I read this week
I finally got round to reading “Endurance”, (by Alfred Lansing) which details the epic journey Ernest Shackleton and his team of 27 men took to Antartica in 1914.
The book details their two-year ordeal, focused on survival. It follows their ship getting stranded and eventually crushed by ice floes in the Weddell Sea, leaving the men stranded on the pack ice, with minimal supplies.
I was hooked almost immediately, and experienced something I don’t think I’ve experienced reading any other book.
Typically, I visualise the characters and scenes depicted in my mind. (Is that normal?)
In ‘Endurance’ the scenery and conditions that the men experienced were so alien, I simply could not visualise.
“In all the world there is no desolation more complete than the polar night. It is a return to the Ice Age— no warmth, no life, no movement. Only those who have experienced it can fully appreciate what it means to be without the sun day after day and week after week. Few men unaccustomed to it can fight off its effects altogether, and it has driven some men mad.”
What I watched this week
Whatever you think of the All-In podcast, they certainly have created a huge platform and have some brilliantly entertaining and informative conversations.
This past week they held their annual summit, and videos of many of the conversations are already available on YouTube.
My favourite is this conversation with Uber founder, Travis Kalinick.
The story of Uber’s early years is wild and the video is worth a watch just for Travis’ recollections of that.
Thanks for reading, see you next week. ✌🏻❤️