Read time: 3 min.

Yesterday I read a headline.

"2025 could be the sunniest year ever recorded in the Netherlands."

Record-breaking. Historic. The kind of summer you're supposed to remember forever.

And immediately, before I could even process it, my brain whispered:

"Shit. You should've been outside more."

I sat there, stunned by how fast that happened.

Because objectively? I probably spent more time in the sun this year than any other. I have the photos. The memories. The slight tan line.

But my brain didn't focus on any of that. It focused on what I missed.

Because that's what brains do best.

They hunt for problems.

The problem-hunting machine

For thousands of years, this kept us alive.

The people who noticed what was missing, what could go wrong, what needed fixing: they survived.

The ones who sat around feeling grateful? Eaten by tigers.

So your brain evolved to scan for problems. Constantly. Even when everything is good, it finds something to fix.

And here's the part that took me way too long to understand:

It never stops.

Not when you hit your goals. Not when you make more money. Not when you finally get the thing you've been chasing.

Your brain just finds a new problem to obsess over.

Problems never disappear. They evolve.

Think about it.

When you're broke, your problems are survival-based: rent, food, making it to the end of the month.

Then you make more money.

Now your problems are: which investment to make, how to optimize your taxes, whether you're working too much.

Different problems. Same mental load.

The goalpost moves. The anxiety doesn't.

This is why wealthy people aren't automatically happier. Why successful people still feel stuck. Why hitting your goals doesn't give you the relief you expected.

Because your brain doesn't take a vacation when you solve one problem.

It immediately starts hunting for the next one.

So here's what I’ve started doing instead

I stopped trying to eliminate problems.

And I started choosing them.

Because your brain is going to chew on something. That's guaranteed.

The only question is: what are you feeding it?

You can let it chew on unimportant stuff:

• whether your last post got enough likes

• reorganizing a drawer that nobody will ever open

• replaying that conversation from last week

Or you can give it something worth solving.

Pick a challenge that makes you curious. That energizes you. That feels like a puzzle you actually want to solve.

For me right now, that's helping more people share their expertise with the world.

For you, it might be something completely different.

But the point is this:

You're going to spend mental energy either way.

You can spend it worrying about trivial nonsense: the things that won't matter in a week, a month, or a year.

Or you can spend it on something that creates meaning. Growth. Progress.

Something that matters to you. And often, to others.

The bottom line

When you realize your brain is always going to find problems, you stop trying to reach a problem-free state.

You stop thinking: "Once I fix this, I'll finally relax."

Because that moment never comes.

Instead, you start asking: "Which problem do I actually want to work on?"

And suddenly, problem-solving stops being exhausting.

It becomes energizing.

Because you're not fighting your brain's nature anymore.

You're working with it.

Much love,

— Martijn

P.S. I help coaches turn their expertise into income. If you've got knowledge worth sharing but haven't figured out the "how" yet, reply to this email. Always happy to point you in the right direction.