Mark: Most of us believe that to solve a problem, you have to dissect it, analyze it, and really live in it. What if that's the very thing keeping you stuck? What if the secret to progress is to spend almost no time on the problem at all? Michelle: Hold on, that sounds like pure avoidance. Are you telling me to just ignore my problems and hope they go away? Because I’ve tried that with my laundry pile, and I can confirm it does not work. Mark: (Laughs) Not avoidance, but a radical shift in focus. It’s the core idea behind a fascinating book called Relentless Solution Focus: Train Your Mind to Conquer Stress, Pressure, and Underperformance by Dr. Jason Selk and Dr. Ellen Reed. Michelle: Okay, "Relentless Solution Focus." It sounds intense. Like something a Navy SEAL would read. Mark: Well, you're not far off. One of the authors, Dr. Jason Selk, isn't just an academic. He was the director of mental training for the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team and helped them win two World Series championships. This isn't just theory; it's a system forged and tested under the most extreme pressure imaginable. Michelle: Wow, okay. So this comes from the world of elite performance, where the mental game is everything. That definitely gets my attention. So if focusing on the problem is the wrong way, what is our brain's default setting? Why do we get it so wrong? Mark: That's the perfect question, because the book argues we're not getting it "wrong" so much as we're running outdated software. We’re fighting against our own biology.

Michelle: Outdated software? What do you mean? Is my brain running on Windows 95? Mark: Essentially, yes! The authors call it Problem-Centric Thought, or PCT. It’s our brain's natural, evolved tendency to scan for, focus on, and magnify threats. For our ancestors on the savanna, this was a feature, not a bug. The person who obsessed over the rustling in the bushes was the one who didn't get eaten. Michelle: Right, survival instinct. Worrying kept us alive. Mark: Exactly. But in the modern world, that same software is a major bug. Our brain can't tell the difference between a tiger in the bushes and a passive-aggressive email from a coworker. It triggers the same stress response, flooding our system with cortisol. The more we focus on the problem—the email, the deadline, the bills—the more cortisol we produce, and the worse we feel and perform. Michelle: So PCT is like having a pop-up ad for disaster constantly running in your brain, and each time you click on it, it just gets bigger and louder. Mark: That's a perfect analogy. And it can derail even the most talented people on the planet. The book gives a powerful, and frankly, heartbreaking example of this with a famous athlete. Michelle: Oh, I'm curious. Who are we talking about? Mark: Alfonso Soriano, a massive baseball star in the 2000s. This guy was a phenomenon—an All-Star, a powerhouse hitter. In 2006, he signed an eight-year, $136 million contract with the Chicago Cubs. It was the biggest contract in the team's history at the time. He was on top of the world. Michelle: I can't even imagine that kind of pressure. A hundred and thirty-six million dollars says "you better not mess this up." Mark: And that’s exactly where the PCT kicked in. His performance started to dip, and instead of focusing on his strengths, he became obsessed with his struggles. He started giving these incredibly candid interviews, saying things like, "I try not to think about it, but it’s hard. It’s my mind. I cannot control my mind." Michelle: Wow, he said that publicly? That’s a cry for help. Mark: It was. He was basically narrating his own downward spiral. He said, "Sometimes your mind controls your body, but you cannot control your mind." He believed he was helpless against his own negative thoughts. And because he focused on that helplessness, it expanded. His slump got worse, his passion for the game evaporated, and just a few years later, he was released and retired. He lost the fight against his own PCT. Michelle: That's devastating. A guy at the absolute peak of his game, with all the talent in the world, undone by his own thoughts. But isn't it responsible to be prepared for what could go wrong? Isn't that what good leaders or planners do? Mark: That's the rationalization everyone uses! The book quotes this exact sentiment: "I am not a pessimist. I just like to be prepared for what could go wrong." But there's a huge difference between strategic planning and destructive rumination. Planning is solution-oriented. PCT is problem-obsessed. Soriano wasn't planning; he was drowning in the problem. Michelle: Okay, I see the distinction. So if our brains are hardwired for this self-sabotaging PCT, are we all just doomed to be Alfonso Soriano in our own lives? Mark: Not at all. And that's the hopeful and powerful part of the book. It argues that you can fight back. You can install new software. That weapon is Relentless Solution Focus, or RSF.

Michelle: Relentless Solution Focus. RSF. Okay, so how does this new software work? What's the first line of code? Mark: It's incredibly simple, and that's its genius. The core of RSF is a rule and a question. The rule is: within 60 seconds of recognizing a negative, problem-focused thought, you must replace it. Michelle: Sixty seconds. That's fast. Replace it with what? Just "think happy thoughts"? Mark: No, that's the key. It's not about empty optimism. You replace it by asking yourself one single, powerful question: "What is one thing I can do that could make this better?" Michelle: "What is one thing I can do that could make this better?" Not "how do I solve this whole mess right now?" Mark: Exactly. The book calls this the "Plus 1 Concept." A solution isn't the perfect, final answer. A solution is any improvement, no matter how small. It’s about finding one inch of forward progress. This shifts your brain chemistry from producing stress-inducing cortisol to producing dopamine and serotonin—the neurotransmitters of action and well-being. Michelle: I like that. It feels manageable. It takes the pressure off. Can you give me an example of this in a low-stakes, everyday situation? Mark: The book has a perfect, and very funny, story about this. The author moves into a new house and is mowing his lawn. He notices his grass has brown patches, while his neighbor Dan’s lawn is a perfect, lush, green carpet. Michelle: Oh, I know this feeling. The lawn-envy is real. Mark: Instantly, his PCT kicks in. He starts spiraling. "My lawn is terrible. I'm a failure as a homeowner. If I can't even manage grass, how am I going to run my business? Dan probably thinks I'm a loser." It's a classic PCT avalanche over something completely trivial. Michelle: (Laughs) I have had this exact internal monologue about my houseplants. It's so relatable. Mark: So, he catches himself. He's deep on the problem side of what he calls the "Mental Chalkboard." He feels the anxiety. And that negative emotion is his alarm bell. So he stops and asks the question: "What is one thing I can do that could make this better?" Michelle: And what was his answer? Mark: His first thought was to hire a lawn service. His second, more comical thought, was to sabotage Dan's lawn in the middle of the night. But he settled on a simple, actionable solution: he grabbed a six-pack of beer, walked over to Dan's house, and just asked for advice. Michelle: That's brilliant! A "Plus 1" solution that also builds a relationship with the neighbor. Mark: Precisely. Dan told him the secret was mulching, not bagging, the grass clippings. A tiny change. But by focusing on that one small solution, he broke the negative spiral, took control, and actually fixed the problem. He moved from the problem side to the solution side. Michelle: Okay, that makes perfect sense for brown grass and houseplants. But what about a real crisis? A life-or-death situation. Does this "Plus 1" concept hold up when the stakes are infinitely higher? Mark: The book argues that it's in those exact moments that this mindset is most critical. It's the difference between survival and giving up.

Michelle: So where do we see this in its most extreme form? Mark: The book brings up one of the most incredible survival stories of all time: the 1972 Andes flight crash. A plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team crashed high in the mountains. One of the survivors was a young man named Nando Parrado. Michelle: I know this story. The conditions were just impossible. Freezing temperatures, no food, no hope of rescue. Mark: Utterly impossible. Nando himself was in a coma for three days and woke up to find his mother and sister had died. The survivors faced starvation, avalanches, and despair. The "problem" wasn't just a problem; it was an overwhelming, all-encompassing nightmare. Focusing on the entirety of the problem—"we are stranded and going to die"—would have been paralyzing. Michelle: It would have been the most rational thought to have. Mark: It would have been the most common PCT response. But Nando, and the others who survived, operated on a relentless solution focus. They didn't think, "How do we survive for months?" They asked, "What is one thing we can do right now to make this better?" Michelle: The Plus 1. Mark: The ultimate Plus 1. The solution was, "Let's use the seat cushions to build a wall against the wind." Then, after an avalanche buried them, the solution wasn't "we're trapped forever." It was, "I will use this metal pole to poke a hole for air." It was always about the next immediate, possible improvement. Michelle: They broke an impossible problem down into a series of possible steps. Mark: And the most incredible part came after 62 days. They heard on their small radio that the official search had been called off. They were left for dead. At that point, PCT would say, "It's over. We're done." But Nando's response was pure RSF. He decided the only solution was to climb out of the mountains to find help. Michelle: A task that sounds just as impossible as waiting for rescue. Mark: It was. But he didn't frame it as "I have to cross the entire Andes mountain range." He broke it down. His focus was just, "What is the one thing I can do now?" And the answer was, "Take one more step." And then another. And another. For ten days, he and a teammate climbed through subzero temperatures with no gear. Their solution was always just the next step. Michelle: Wow. So he wasn't thinking, "I have to conquer this mountain." He was thinking, "I have to get my foot from here to there." That's the whole philosophy in its most extreme, life-saving form. Mark: Exactly. It's not about the size of the problem. It's about the size of your focus. By focusing on the smallest possible solution, he conquered an impossible problem. Failure fades when quitting isn't an option.

Michelle: That story is going to stick with me for a long time. It really crystallizes the whole idea. It’s not about being a blind optimist or ignoring reality. It’s about being a relentless doer. Mark: That's the perfect way to put it. The book's framework is so powerful because it acknowledges our biological wiring. Our brains are built with this problem-finding program, this PCT, that can absolutely sabotage us if we let it. It’s the voice of Alfonso Soriano saying, "I can't control my mind." Michelle: But we can install new software. Mark: We can install new software. And that software, RSF, is built on one simple, repeatable command: "What is one thing I can do that could make this better?" It’s not about having the answer. It’s about relentlessly looking for the next step. Michelle: So the challenge for everyone listening is simple. The next time you feel that knot of worry, that PCT spiral starting—whether it's about your lawn, your job, or something much bigger—just stop. And ask that one question: "What is one thing I can do to make this better?" Don't solve the world. Just find that one inch of progress. Mark: That one "Plus 1" solution. And we'd love to hear what you come up with. Find us on our socials and share one small solution you found this week. It’s amazing to see how this simple shift works in real life, for real people. Michelle: It’s a mental workout. And like any workout, consistency is everything. Mark: It truly is. You train yourself to become unstoppable, one small solution at a time.