07/13/2026
"Sometimes the biggest obstacle is not the difficulty of a problem. It is being told that it cannot be solved."
I love this story so much because it is emblematic of what we do.
I can't tell you how many clients we work with (most of them) who, for whatever reason, come in with the belief that they are "stuck" with their current pain or problem.... and we help them navigate out of it.
Whether that is a complete cessation of pain & problems, or skills for managing it depends on the exact situation.
Most problems ARE solvable. When looked at with fresh eyes and given time, attention, and intention.
In 1939, George Dantzig walked into a statistics lecture at the University of California, Berkeley a little late. By the time he arrived, Professor Jerzy Neyman had already written two problems on the blackboard. Assuming they were a homework assignment, Dantzig copied them into his notebook without giving it much thought.
Over the next few days, Dantzig worked through the questions and noticed they seemed much harder than usual. Still believing they were part of a routine assignment, he eventually completed them and handed in his solutions.
The two problems Dantzig had solved were not ordinary classroom exercises. They were famous unsolved problems in mathematical statistics that had challenged researchers for years.
Because Dantzig never knew the questions were considered unsolved, he approached them with the mindset that they simply required effort and patience to complete.
His solutions were later verified and published, and the work became the foundation of his doctoral thesis.
The episode would become one of the most famous stories in mathematics, often cited as a powerful example of how assumptions can shape what people believe is possible.
Sometimes the biggest obstacle is not the difficulty of a problem. It is being told that it cannot be solved.
