PROBLEMS worth FIXING: UNCORKED with SANDY RICHARDSON

If you’ve ever felt like meaningless battles are draining your energy or you’re searching for a problem worth fixing, this is your wake-up call.

Not every problem is worth fixing. In a world obsessed with solutions, we spend too much time patching cracks while the foundations beneath us crumble. In this UNCORK conversation with the questioner, innovator, disruptor, creator, and artist Sandy Richardson, we shatter the illusion that all problems deserve our sweat, grit, and relentless effort. We challenge the notion that simply because something annoys us, it requires our attention. Together, we explore a deeper truth—some problems are symptoms, not root causes. Others merely function as distractions, keeping us too busy to address what truly needs fixing. So, how do we determine which problems are genuinely worthy of our time? And how do we resist the tempting trap of solving the wrong ones?

This episode isn’t just talk—it’s a call to action in which we unpack how to diagnose real problems, avoid the trap of symptom soothing, and embrace the messy, meaningful work of fixing what truly matters. Additionally, we dive into the widening gaps in business, society, and even our lives, questioning whether we’re being lulled into passivity by problems we assume are too big to fix.

Buckle up, listen in, and ask yourself: What problem are you solving? And is it the one that deserves your time?

Tim Windsor
the UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast – Host & Guide
tim@uncommodified.com
https://uncommodified.com/
  
PRODUCERS: Kris MacQueen & Alyne Gagne
MUSIC BY: https://themacqueens.ca/

Transcript

PLEASE NOTE: UNCOMMODiFiED Podcast episode transcriptions are raw text files and have not been proofed or edited. They are what they are … Happy Reading.

© UNCOMMODiFiED & TIM WINDSOR

[00:00:00] Not every problem deserves a solution. We live in a world obsessed with fixing things, patching things, tweaking things. But here's the uncomfortable truth. Some problems are merely distractions. Dead end rabbit holes that consume time, energy, and resources, while real, worthy battles remain often, uh, neglected in our lives, unattended to.

So here's the question we all must face. How do we determine what's worth fixing? What problems ultimately demand and deserve our precious time and attention and which ones Should we just walk away from or run away from at the end of the day? Hey my friends, welcome back to the uncommodified podcast I'm Tim Windsor and today my guest on the show is Sandy Richardson.

Sandy, welcome to the show It's going to be a great conversation. Now, before we start, let me tell you a little bit about [00:01:00] Sandy, how I met her, and um, then you get a context for this conversation. So I met Sandy last year when she attended my kickoff leading uncommodified event in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

And the first time I chatted with Sandy, I can recall thinking to myself, and you probably have these experiences every once in a while yourself, I thought to myself, I think there's many more conversations with this particular person in my future. And there have been, which are quite delightful to me. So a little bit about Sandy.

Sandy is driven by a deep desire to help people. That, that's the driving force, whether it's individuals or groups. And she loves to help them discover and achieve their vision of a better future, whatever that might look for them. She is in the transformation game. That, that's the game that Sandy plays every day.

And for the last 20 years, she's helped people, usually in organizational structures, work together more collaboratively to create and achieve a shared vision. Her professional career has been built on a series of pivots, uh, calculated risks, lucky breaks, as she describes them, and a willingness to [00:02:00] say yes to opportunities just because they felt right to her.

She's a learner, absolutely. She's an explorer. I've seen this. She's a question asker, great question asker, in fact. Analytical thinker, innovator, disruptor, creator, and an artist who's standing right now on the precipice of our next not all yet figured out adventure. Now, Sandy, I'm looking forward to this conversation, and this is an uncorked conversation, sort of my favorite ones.

And so these always start with just uncorking the drink. So I got a question. What are you drinking today?

Perrier Mojito. Oh, that sounds good. Fomo. A FOMO Fomoto. Okay, well, you know what, in, in celebration of that, I'm gonna open this up and I'll tell you what this is. This is sort of fae, but not quite almost. This is called the near zero and it's, uh, it's, it's from the Lake of Bays up in Huntsville, but three hours north of here and.

And this happens to be their New England IPA and it's 0. 5%. It's a very [00:03:00] low alcohol, 25 calories. And I actually have them shipped down to me because I've been trying to find a decent sort of non alcoholic beer. And I have to admit, I've tasted a lot of disgusting ones. And this one here, this, this one here is one of my favorites.

So cheers to you.

It's actually quite drinkable because most of them are. Oh, they're just terrible, to be honest. So, alright, enough about that. Enough about my, my drinks. Alright, back to the conversation we want to have. Sandy and I are going to chat about how to understand and identify problems. That's what we're going to chat about.

And what we're going to talk about is the problems that ultimately should demand our sweat, our grit, and our relentless effort. Not, not just the kind of problems that annoy us just a little bit, because there's some of that stuff. Because at the end of the day, great people And great leaders, but really great people because that's what we're talking about.

They don't solve all problems, but they do solve the right ones, the most important ones, the ones truly worth their precious time and attention. Problems that matter [00:04:00] and must be solved. So here's a question. Sandy, this is how I want to start this out. How do we determine what a real problem is and what problem is actually worth fixing?

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm. Yeah.[00:05:00] 

Yeah, I'm not sure I know the answer to that, that either. And, you know, when we talked about having this kind of conversation, I have to admit I've been doing a lot of thinking about this because you, when you and I chatted and we got together for coffee recently, we, you, you, you came up with this idea that you said, hey, problems worth solving.

And I thought to myself when I broke it down like that. That says two things to me. One is, is it a problem? What does that actually mean? And the other thing is worth solving. Um, you know, again, it's, it's a very small question, but I think it's actually quite deep and fascinating. So let me just talk, let's talk about problems for a second.

So, you know, not all problems are probably worth our time and attention, no, no doubt. And probably all, not all things that we call problems are really problems. So how do you sort of work through [00:06:00] this? When you look at your lens of whether you're working with an organization or whether you're looking at macro society, when you're, or you're looking at the future about what you want to do, even in your, in your life and business of, you know, how do you?

Sort of say, you know, I think that actually is a problem as opposed to ah, you know, it's a minor irritant a small little issue[00:07:00] 

Yeah, and I, I think that's an interesting way of looking at it, and unfortunately, I think there's a lot of gaps, if I just use that, I think there's a lot of gaps or areas that don't seem connected, and there seems to be no bridge between them in our world, in our society, in our community, in our businesses, um, you know, when we look at these things, and, you know, and society's going through such massive shifts that I wonder, do you, do you think that some of these, you know, Things that were just small gaps are actually now becoming chasms, they're becoming larger sort of divides and schisms, and maybe is that partly what turns something in from a minor irritant or an issue into a problem when it seems like it's not just easy to bridge anymore.

Mm[00:08:00] 

hmm.

Now, that's a good way, that's a good way of looking at it, because now when I think of it logically, if there was something that was a bit of a crack or schism, and now all of a sudden it seems to be a much larger Sort of a walk between these places to your point, understanding what's causing that gap to widen that problem to become bigger is part [00:09:00] of the solution, because if we can't sort of get it back into a point where it's a bit more manageable, it's probably far too big for most of us, even if we collect collectively get on it, that thing becomes so big.

So why that it seems almost insurmountable.

Um,

ha.

Yeah,

yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, well, that goes back to causal connection. I mean, at the end of the day, if you can't figure out what keeps bringing you to this thing, the chances are we're going to recreate it again and again and again and [00:10:00] to, you know, and maybe by the way, that's maybe that's where that word stop gap comes from.

You know, we, we, we put a stop gap in place and we think that we've stopped the widening of this, but in fact we keep walking back over and over or maybe recreating this problem. And this This gap in our businesses or in our lives, in our society, over and over again, where we become, in a sense, part of the problem, or maybe the problem creators, unbeknownst to ourselves, if we're not careful.[00:11:00] 

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And again, if you're listening in, I'll just, just, again, remind you, if you, I always say that you listen for a reason, and I, my challenge to you today is to apply this conversation to whatever world you live in. You know, you might be starting to think about a gap in your family. You might be thinking about a gap in your community group or your community or society in general.

You might be thinking about a gap in your business, wherever you're, you're starting to see that thing. These are just some really good questions to ask because at the end of the day, part of our focus is what problems are really worth solving. And some of them maybe are not worth solving. Or in fact, maybe some of them are nested.

If we solve one, we solve another. Maybe, maybe there's an interconnection in those, in those [00:12:00] problems. So let me ask you, when you look at macro problems right now, Sandy, in life or business that you're starting to say, you know, here's a problem I'm seeing and I think it's worth solving. Uh, I have a couple that come to my mind, but I'm interested.

What comes to your mind when you say this is a problem I'm seeing? Uh, and it's a gap and maybe a growing gap and I think it's worth, uh, me solving or somebody solving. What what problems come to your mind right now that you think actually are worth solving and worth your time and attention?

Mm hmm. Mm[00:13:00] 

hmm.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is. And, and, you know, and [00:14:00] going back to just, I think the big piece, when I think of problems worth solving, I think one of the challenges is, is that it is rather easy and simplistic to be a symptom soother, to, to soothe the symptoms, to take the pain away from myself or you or others in a, in maybe even a very tangible way in the short term, or sort of mute or mitigate that pain for a season.

Yeah. But that is an unwise strategy, because at the end of the day, I mean, if we just think about it in our own bodies, you know, I could have a headache right now, and that headache could have multiple causes, and if I'm not careful, you know, over time, I keep having this persistent headache, let's say, and, and I don't, I'm just using an example, but, you know, I have a persistent headache, and I, I, now I'm going to soothe that symptom and I'm going to take Tylenol or Advil day after day after day after day.

Even though the bottle says don't persist and do that after so long, I'm going to [00:15:00] take it day after day after day. But one day I might decide, you know what, there's something else maybe going on here and maybe, maybe there's something has to be different and I go to the doctor and you know, God forbid I find out in fact I have a brain tumor.

You know, I've just been soothing a symptom of something that clearly is not, is a problem worth solving. But actually, I'm actually masking the problem so that I can put up with it, endure it, pretend it's not there, whatever. So I, so then that actually keeps me away from finding the real solution and the problem really worth solving.

And I, I have a feeling that in society sometimes we sort of do that. And I think it's, unfortunately, it's the curse of, for, for politics and politicians in that they are, they're master. Symptom soothers. They, and people are mesmerized and placate to that. And, and, and, you know, we laud people because all of a sudden we feel a relief [00:16:00] of, quote, pain.

And we assume, and we, we, we, we make a connection to say that means the problem's gone away. But sometimes we're just muting the problem, dulling ourselves with the problem, and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger underneath our feet. And I, I think that if we're not careful, All of us, at some point, are, are apt to do that and might even be guilty of that.

Hmm.

Uh huh.[00:17:00] 

Yeah. No, I, uh

huh. Yeah, and you know what? It's interesting because I have a unique, uh, opportunity. Maybe I look at in my own business and I look at my career, you know, I've been a consultant for a long, long time, and I I've worked for some other people as an employee, I think maybe 33 and a half years of my whole career, and I'm going to turn 60 this year.

So it's been, it's been a while, and I feel like in some ways In the industries that I consult in, the older I get, actually the more valuable I become. Because of my deep understanding and knowledge, [00:18:00] um, because a little bit of the, the mesmerization of the consultant. Sometimes I say the same thing as everybody else, but because they're paying me more, sometimes it's more valuable.

I don't know how it works, but it does. But I actually feel that the older I get, as long as my mind is clear and my body is healthy, I become more valuable to the customers that I've worked with for a long time because I have much more tribal knowledge, understanding. I've got all these things. But I, I, I I think I see a counter thing happening in a lot of places, and I would say not so much.

In the places I consult with, to be honest, because I think they've, they got some of this figured out, but I was talking to some recent recently. They were talking about the story and I was getting the sense that, you know, maybe my lived experience as a consultant of feeling more honored and more valuable as I, you know, get a little bit more wisdom age.

I think that's called wrinkles. Um, but, um, I'm, I'm wondering if yeah, That's not true for everybody. [00:19:00] I'm wondering if, you know, in this inequality that we're seeing. Um, you know, we've got lots of inequality. We've got racial inequality. We've got gender inequality. We've got, we've got sexual orientation inequality.

We've got lots of inequality that we all, at some point, face or, or people face. But there's a hidden one that I don't think we talk about as much, and that is when it comes to, to age and experience. Um, and I'm, I'm interested to know, tell me a little bit about your thinking, maybe your own journey in your own life and in your career.

Like, do you think that this, do you think this is just, uh, an issue? Do you think it's just a small irritant? Or do you actually think that there's a problem somehow in this is worth understanding and maybe worth solving? Or do you think this is totally erroneous?[00:20:00] 

Hmm. Mm

hmm. Hmm.

Hmm.[00:21:00] 

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, I agree. Yeah, a couple of podcast episodes ago, I can't remember when, I had a conversation with a gentleman named Nick Kirpan. And if you haven't listened to that episode, I encourage you to do it. I think the title of that was Intelligent and Wise. And that was quite an interesting conversation.

Nick is a fascinating, brilliant man. And we talked about just, you know, sort of [00:22:00] three different types of wisdom. We talked about, uh, ancient wisdom. Modern wisdom and or intelligence and super intelligence. And and I and it tucked into the same thing. And I think one of the challenges is and maybe, you know, I think I see this in myself.

Unfortunately, you know, I do believe that, you know, when I was younger. For instance, I think that we had a different way, at least at that time. When I was a child, I think I thought about my grandparents or my grandfather in particular, because my grandmother died when I was quite young, I saw him in a different way.

I saw his, his aging. I saw his, his, his, um, his life. More from a perspective of the wisdom that he gained, maybe much more like, uh, you know, we would in First Nation communities where we have this understanding, again, of course, I, this is not my lived experience, but you know, I can do enough reading where we had an understanding of tribal understand, uh, [00:23:00] eldership of, of honoring eldership of honoring that wisdom, that, that lived experiential wisdom.

And, you know, of course, I think this has been probably going on for a long time, not just in our lifetime, but, you know, there's been such a veneration. Of, of, of youth, youthfulness, which again, this isn't pooh poohing on youthfulness. I, I want to be youthful too. But there is, there is something that seems to be shifting where those people who maybe would be more like, you know, we'll call the elders in the community.

I, I think that First Nations people are trying to remind us that this is important. I'm not sure we're, we're getting the message actually. Around these things, and I think that's problematic. And it came up in my conversations with Nick, because if we're not careful, we're gonna move away and we're gonna be super smart, but unwise.[00:24:00] 

Yeah.

No.

Yeah.[00:25:00] 

Yeah. It it is. It is. No.

Yeah.

Yeah. There, there.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's a balance in all that. So, you know, I described you as a person sort of on the precipice of a not quite yet figured out next step journey. So, I'm interested to know if you could just share a little bit. So, where are you right now in your own journey? And, you know, as you're sort of moving through this season of figuring out what the next steps are for you, you know, What specific problems are you [00:26:00] thinking are worth your time and attention in the next season of your life?

Mm hmm.[00:27:00] 

Mm hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. So are you, so as you do that, are you starting to get any sense of what kind of things that one you're willing to [00:28:00] Use, pull the problem, rip cord on meaning? I think sometimes it has to do with what we call things, you know, I, I often think of the fact that, you know, uh, particularly maybe as a man, maybe, maybe I'm being sexist against myself right now, but you know, every once in a while I have a nagging aching health problem.

But it's not a problem yet because it's just an issue, which translates to it's really hurting, but I haven't gone to the doctor yet. Now when I have a health problem, when it gets to problem status, code red problem, I think it's probably time to go to the doctor. But I think sometimes part of the challenge is what we call things.

If we, if we don't call them problems, they don't get the same attention. Now, of course, that's a negative construct. You know, we like to call them opportunities and I get that and and uh, but but There are also then there's these issues. Issues are I often hear companies talk about issues and that's code language for we've had this for eight years that that's we've had this issue in I.

T. Uh, this issue and human [00:29:00] resources that usually means I say, well, so how many decades this check and check it out here. So. You know, I think we've got to be careful because if we're going to use the word problem and get, get, get our attention towards it and others, because I think that is part of importance about catalyzing our attention towards it, because problem seems to have a sense of urgency about it.

Is there anything, you know, is there one or two or three things where you're starting to say, you know, I think this Is sort of this is problem status for me. This this is starting to feel like problem and that maybe you're showing you get a sense of well, maybe I could put my good energy towards some of the some of these things.[00:30:00] 

Mm,

mm,

yeah.

Hmm. So are you, so let me just, so if I'm tracking, cause this is all new and for you listening in, you know, we don't, I don't script these conversations, so I never quite know where they're going to go. We have a, we have a question. We started with a question. What's the problem and how do we decide if it's worth [00:31:00] fixing?

That's the macro question. Other than that, when I do these conversations, you know. That's maybe why I drink. I got to figure it out on the way. I don't know what it is, Sandy, but I gotta figure it out. So, so let me just understand. Are you thinking about maybe then one of the things that you see yourself maybe giving some time and energy to is maybe bringing together a group of people somehow to start these conversations about, Hey, what is a problem?

What do you see as a problem and actually think tank a little bit together about, okay, what does it look like? If we, if you solve that, and then really challenging people, maybe asking them a subset of questions, are you, is that sort of one of the things you're, you're playing around with?

It does. Mm hmm.[00:32:00] 

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hmm.[00:33:00] 

I like the idea. You know, I, I think one of the problems in this conversation is when we look at something that gets to problem status in our lives, it usually means it seems big, daunting and scary. It usually means that it seems much more stronger, bigger, faster than we are. And, um, I think the challenge becomes is that we then struggle with the insignificance of our contribution.

And I actually believe it's like, it seems to be an impressively evil force that convinces you and I that the small contribution that we can make is so insignificant. That we should not even try. And then the cumulative effect is, is that my insecurity, your insecurity, [00:34:00] the evil, impressive voice that tells us, This is too big for you, Tim.

This is far too big for you, Sandy. Then what happens is, is that we get paralyzed, and then we do nothing. And then, you and I have identified in some ways the same big problem. But the big problem somehow It's like it's, you know, it, you know, it, it, it's, it's like a presence or a force or, or almost an identity and it convinces me that I, what I would do would be insignificant.

It convinces you that what you would do would be insignificant and then you and I do nothing. And then, um, and I think that's the challenge. I think we are, the problem is, is that we, we are convinced of our own insignificance, that what I would do would be so little that it could have no effect. And then at the end of the day, great, good people look at these problems and no one does much about them.

I have a feeling that's what happens.[00:35:00] 

Yeah.[00:36:00] 

Yeah. So one of the things you're starting to think about as you sort of go into this season of transition, you're thinking about maybe, maybe part of the future for you is trying to figure out how to gather people around and come together to, to, to, to strategize around how do we identify problems and then how do we begin to act upon them.

So that's one of the thing. Anything else in this sort of Season of not sure what's next yet, uh, season. Anything else that you're sort of beginning to tuck into and say, Hey, you know what? This is something else I see that's a bit of a problem. And maybe, maybe I could put my hand to that.[00:37:00] 

Hmm. Mm hmm.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.[00:38:00] 

Yeah. Yeah, listen, I think it's quite well hidden, and I think it's hidden for lots of different reasons. Now, it's kind of interesting because I work a lot. I have several clients that have longstanding, like longstanding employees. We're talking 25, years in some cases, which is quite unusual, but it's an industry that lends itself to that.

And Yeah. Yeah. What I'm seeing is a move towards a semi retirement sort of thing in those areas because the deep knowledge that they have is not replaceable. It's not replaceable very quickly. It's not replaceable, frankly, maybe for another 20 years because they have all of this deep tribal knowledge and it's not replaceable.

And so what I'm seeing is actually in some of those places an honoring of that tribal wisdom. And not sort of putting those people out to pasture and saying, Hey, can we come up with a hybrid way? Now, I think though, one of the things that's driving it, is they can't find good [00:39:00] replacements. My concern is more about where we think we can find great replacements.

Um, are we actually taking the same approach to honor that wisdom that's within the system and within the, the lived experiences of those employees? And I'm not sure that's always the case. And, you know, I, I have my own experience in my own life, uh, of experience that my father had. So my father, I've told this story on the podcast before, my parents were divorced when I was quite young and my dad moved to the States and he was a senior vice president of a large retail corporation.

And, um, you know, They all, all of the, all of the senior executives of that company, they were Canadian, actually, and they all mostly moved to the States. Um, you know, frankly, they all thinking about that was sort of madmen generation. They all absolutely destroyed their families for the sake of their business.

I think I'm fact, every one of my dad and his colleagues. All obliterated their families for the sake of the business ended up moving to the operations in the states. All that happened. Well, you know, when, when [00:40:00] that, when my dad and his colleagues reached their mid forties, they were all let go from that corporation because the new incoming president said, Hey, you guys are too old now.

And literally within like a two month period, all the senior executive team, including my dad, they all lost their job. And it. Um, no recourse, no nothing. That's just the way it was. And I will tell you, my dad struggled. His identity, his psyche was so wounded. My dad struggled. Never found a great job after that.

Couldn't figure out who he was. Trying to figure it out. Now, in my dad's case, another event happened. That was in his mid forties. My dad had a massive stroke when he was 52. And he didn't pass away, but he was basically a prisoner in his own body for the next 30 years. He couldn't walk or talk. So I have a lived experience where I've seen sort of this sort of putting to pasture people who were all of a sudden quote too old.

[00:41:00] Now, I think back then it was much more blatant. I think sometimes these things can be a lot more subtle and you know, and I see it again, I'll be really honest. I see it sometimes when I talk to people who hire, you know, they're not going to tell. You and, uh, to your face and they surely aren't going to tell the candidate, but don't tell me that they're not looking at the resume saying, well, I can't ask their age, but I'm pretty sure they're going to want to retire soon.

So I'm not sure I want to hire them. I mean, and if we think that doesn't happen, Sandy, come on, we got to shake our heads that that happens. That, that happens and I, I think we're doing ourself a disservice because of that lived experience and wisdom and to be honest I'm gonna tell you right now, you know You might not be getting a lot of people right now in your world is saying yeah, I agree Sandy That might be a problem.

I'm sorry. I'm gonna be really frank. I totally disagree with those voices. I think we have a problem And, and, you know, I think we have a problem to your point. We talk about, we've got all these incubators, you know, we live in a community full of [00:42:00] tech incubation. We've got tech incubators. We've got incubators for small business stuff.

I received a venture capital loan when I first started my business when I was 16, I received a venture capital loan. And again, I think that yes, there's government programs and there are these things, but I do think thinking about we're living longer. Our, our, our, our health, it seems to be a little bit more robust, uh, as long as our minds are, are, are in good, good, uh, good shape and we can think clearly and we've got good strength.

I have this feeling that we've got a group of people who become more valuable actually in their 50s, maybe, you know, into their 70s, potentially. And I am not sure that we're ready yet to your point. I don't think most of us see we have a problem, but we're going to, you know, where we're going to realize we have a problem.

Sandy is when all of these people go, you know what? It's a problem getting a job. I think I'll just all, I'll collect my pensions. And all of a sudden the government's going to go, whoa, whoa, hold [00:43:00] on a second. You guys can't all draw that at once. I think we're going to have a bigger problem.

Yes.[00:44:00] 

Yeah, it,

yeah, listen, um, I'm not sure how old Warren Buffett is, but Warren Buffett is not 40. I don't think Warren Buffett's 50. He's got to be solidly in his 60s, maybe older. I don't know. But I'll tell you something, I'm fairly wise. Crafty, crafty creature he is. He's a wise and crafty creature, solidly, clearly in his clear mind, great thinker, wise beyond his years, even at his age.

And again, maybe because he's so successful and he has a lot of money, we all go, yeah, you know what, that'd be [00:45:00] a great mentor. But maybe again, we need to rethink this. You know, again, if you're listening in, we're sort of focusing in a little bit on a problem that we're sort of thinking about right now.

And again, I don't want this to be singular. This may not be the problem you see or the one that you want to solve. So again, I'm going to challenge you. You know what? Go find your own problem. Okay? Seriously. And by the way, can I encourage you as listeners? You know, if it's a problem, stop bitching and complaining about it and get off your ass and do something.

You know, again, if you are going to tell me that something's a problem for 10 years and you're not going to do anything, that's not a problem. Okay, that's a small annoyance. So, if you see a problem around you in the world, if you don't like something, Then get off your ass and ask yourself what positive contribution can you make to solve it.

And, and unless and until you do that, frankly, stop bitching and complaining. Because, that's, we have far too much of that. I mean, you know, it's like going to the baseball game. You know, I, I don't even go to the baseball game anymore. Because, you know, the guy behind me with, who's like, you know, with the beer belly, two beers and a hot dog, he can hit [00:46:00] better, catch better, bat better than everybody on the team.

Problem is, he can't get his hot dog out of his mouth to get down and play the game. And I don't have a lot of respect for that. And so, again, I just want to be clear. Find a problem, but then challenge yourself to do something practical, however small it is. If it's a problem, and it's worth solving, don't just wait for somebody else to solve it.

That, I mean, that's the macro takeaway for me for this conversation, Sandy. And that's my challenge to myself. Frankly, respectfully, Sandy, it's my challenge to you. And it's my challenge to everybody listening. Once something becomes a problem in your mind, Let's, let's not leave it up to somebody else.

Let's ask what small contribution we can make. Maybe it's this problem we're talking about.

Yeah.[00:47:00] 

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. No, totally agree. Listen, Sandy, I appreciate the conversation and, you know, what I would really want is that as a follow up to this conversation that we're obviously letting a bunch of people eavesdrop in on, um, which is one of many of the conversations we've had and we're going to have more. I, I definitely want to follow up this conversation with you.

I would like to have a different conversation about, okay, so what does this mean? And, you know, at some point, uh, it's gonna be, Hey, Sandy, what, what are we gonna, what are we gonna do about this? What [00:48:00] can we do about this problem or any other one? Listen, I'm up to, uh, I'll sign up, uh, to, to work with you and strategize with you about any problem.

You're a very clear thinker. You're a very smart woman. You've had a lot of life experience. You're very passionate. You're very articulate. And I would, you know, frankly, I'd, I'd link arms with you and say, and say, let's solve a problem together. You know, we happen to live in the same community, so we're close, we can find a problem that we can fix.

I actually think the problem that we're talking a little bit about, about how do we look at, sort of, you know, you know, a third, third act in people's play, or whatever we want to call it. Maybe it's the last act, I don't know. But how do we honor people who are exiting the, the traditional workforce? And how do we, and how do we help them maybe find different, different ways of looking at the future?

Uh, of creating value, of sharing wisdom. You know, that, that's something that's quite fascinating to me. And I would love to have a further conversation with you. And, uh, you know, maybe we [00:49:00] can find a couple of other people who might be interested in having that conversation.

Hey, I'm in as well. Sandy, listen, I, I really appreciate this conversation and I do want to tell my listeners, you know, the whole theme around this problem is worth solving. I do want to be clear. I stole this, uh, I stole this directly from Sandy in a conversation we had and we had a coffee because Sandy said, you know, problems were solving.

And I was like, Oh, I like that. So I just want to be clear. I stole that from Sandy. Um, but I like it and I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep using it because, uh, Uh, I have to challenge myself, because sometimes I get complacent too. Sometimes I, I bet you complain a little bit about what I don't like around me, and then I actually don't do anything about it.

You know, and the one person who's really good at that in my life, by the way, is Sandy, is my wife, Pam. You know, my wife sees a problem in society about homelessness, and food insecurity, and that kind of stuff. And my wife partners with an [00:50:00] agency in our community, but not just partners with money. You know, she goes there every week and she spends time learning the stories of people.

My wife is amazing at it. And my wife is an amazing contributor, and sort of a person who is asking herself, what can I do? In what seems small and insignificant, but there's so many times that Pam comes home and she tells me a story of somebody she's encountered, where we're getting the story of somebody's life.

You know, my wife is the kind of person, you know, you know, she, she believes strongly in trying to help people, but she's also wants to apply wisdom. So I will tell you that, you know, in all of both of our cars are pre packaged in, you know, in Ziploc bags. We have. bags, and my wife encourages me to do the same.

And and in that in those bags are their socks and toiletries and this and that. And there's a Tim Hortons card. And my one caveat my wife gives me because she wants to solve a problem. And part of the [00:51:00] problem here is she feels that there's this nameless faceless identity to this problem that she has a mandate that whenever we roll down our window, And we give one of these away that we engage in a conversation and we say, hi, I'm Tim.

What's your name? Because apparently this is a person we're engaging with. My wife is really, really good at this. So I think we should get her involved too, Sandy. Cause she's a, she's a problem solver. Sandy, thanks so much for your time. Uh, as always, uh, really appreciate the conversation. Again, you listened, you listened in for a reason.

Do me a favor. Uh, if you want to get on the problem solving train, DM me, send me an email at Tim at uncommodified. com. Uh, before I go, Sandy, if person wants to reach out to you. Maybe they want you to get them to solve a problem in their community, in their business, somewhere. Or, they want to hit you up for some of the great art you do, by the way.

Uh, which is in the background on the video. How do they find Sandy?[00:52:00] 

Sandy at jetrichardson. ca I like it. Sandy, thanks so much for your time. Thanks again for listening in. Have an excellent day. Cheers.