Welcome to The Friends Theory, where we use pop culture and story to reframe the way you see your life, work, and what you’re capable of.

This week, we're working our problems like Matt Damon in space.

3-minute read.

The One Where We Work The Problem

Insights from “The Martian”, 2015

🎬 Picture it:
Matt Damon's in space. Well, his character, Mark Watney is. Specifically, Mars. Only there's a crazy dust storm and during the evacuation he gets injured, lost, assumed dead, and left behind.

He's alone. He's grown potatoes out of poop. It's pretty dire.

Upon realising he is in fact still alive, a rescue mission is hatched. His crew — the ones who left him — having severe guilt issues (jk but not really), are going to perform a 'slingshot move' and pick up Matt Damon, who helpfully will be blasted into space in a heavily-altered Mars Ascent Vehicle. Aka MAV. Aka a rocket with no windows, no doors and no navigation system.

It's dicey. It's bold. It's got issues.

Everything's going to plan, but when the crew takes the reading of speed vs distance they realise they are nowhere near enough to Matt/Mark to catch him.

Doomed to die in space, doomed to fail the mission, Jessica Chastain's character as captain of the ship says:

Not: holy f**k look at this mess.
Not: we've failed and there's no way through.
Just simply: work the problem.

And the beauty of this? You don't have to be on course to rot in space to use this method.

Ever Been Here?

None of my problems are ones where I'll face death by wilting away in space or from the overload of guilt. But problems are still problems. Even when they are opportunities.

My problems this week, in no particular order of severity:

• How to be more visible online without losing my mind.

• How to own a position and actually stick to it.

• How to build a business whilst also building a new life, with no immediate support network, a wife who works full time, and a small person who needs dinner.

• What to actually make for said dinner.

• How to learn several languages.

• How to manage time.

None of these will kill me. Some days they feel like they might.

Try This On:

The answer isn't out there somewhere. It's already in the problem. Stay with me.

The answer may already be there. The solution is the work — the 'how to get from A to B'. When you work the problem, you're actually just breaking it down into manageable, solvable actions.

Got a problem and gone straight to worst case scenario? Thrown your hands up and thought 'well, that's that then'? Come up with a (sure to fail) solution in 5 seconds and committed to only that one?

Same.

The thing is: most problems are much smaller than our brains tell us. As humans we are literally wired to spot the negatives — it's evolution, not a personality flaw. (See! Not our fault. Lol.)

But when it happens — and it always happens at the most inconvenient times — it can feel, well, a bit sh*t.

Taking a pause and saying 'work the problem' gives you a method and a place to start.

The Martian puts it perfectly. When Mark Watney is safely back on Earth:

I also like to ask myself: will this matter in a week? In 6 months? A year? 5 years? Most of the time, the answer is no. So how about we stop giving it the energy of something that will.

Someone I worked with 15 years ago reminded me I'd said this to her once. I've been using it ever since. Including this week.

Final Thought

In the end, Mark Watney's solution is to poke a hole in his spacesuit, use the escaping air as a thruster, and fly towards the crew's ship like Iron Man.

It's quite the move.

But next time you find yourself — and I'm talking to myself here — making a mountain out of a molehill, remind yourself to work the problem. And see where you get to.

See you next week,

Lucy x

P.S. If you're ready to work the problem but not sure how, start here👇

Thanks for reading The Friends Theory. I appreciate you so much ❤️