I used to believe that dilemmas in business and life could be solved. Like untangling or cutting through knotted shoelaces.
After all, finding a solution brought real relief, removing danger and opening new doors for growth. It felt like the dilemma had been conquered once and for all.
But after going through this process a hundred times, across countless cases, people, and circumstances, a curious pattern emerges.
It’s always the same drama—just in different forms!
It’s like burning wood, fermenting grapes, or tarnishing silver. Although these seem unrelated, they share the same chemical process: oxidation, the loss of electrons during a reaction by a molecule, atom, or ion.
But don’t be too quick to see unbreakable dilemmas as bad news.
First, they exist for a reason. You can’t change your personality, erase the past, or wipe away childhood wounds. Everything you’ve inherited and experienced makes you who you are.
Second, knowing your core dilemma helps you anticipate obstacles. The hooks of your personality will always find loops to latch onto, in every shape and size. That means you already know the way out.
Third, studying your dilemma helps you understand yourself. Inside you, two equally strong but opposing needs clash. This tension points to what truly matters to you in life.
You can’t escape your dilemma, but you can rise above it.
“The greatest and most important problems of life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown. This ‚outgrowing‘ consist of reaching a new level of consciousness. Some higher or wider interest arose on the person’s horizon, and through this widening of view, the insoluble problem lost its urgency. It was not solved logically in its own terms, but faded out when confronted with a new and stronger life-tendency.”
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.