Challenges help us grow but not every opportunity deserves our energy.
Some problems are too small or meaningless to develop our capabilities – they just keep us comfortable, and comfort is something to be cautious about. Others are too big for our current resources – they might burn us before we can create a real impact.
Maybe the key is finding challenges that stretch us without breaking us, where we have enough knowledge to contribute and enough uncertainty to learn, and where our unique capabilities can contribute to creating the meaningful change we seek.
We’re more helpful when we don’t try to solve every problem we see but choose the ones where we can actually make a difference.