Lately, I’ve found myself spending more time on hard problems. The kind that doesn’t have clear definitions or simple answers. The ones that live across functions, people, systems, and expectations. The problems that sit below the surface, and quietly shape outcomes.
I didn’t set out looking for this kind of work, but I’m realizing it’s where the real impact is.
Leaning Into The Work That Matters
It’s not about knocking out a checklist or checking the box on another deliverable. It’s about leaning into the stuff that actually matters. The things that get avoided, not because they’re unimportant, but because they’re uncomfortable.
Sometimes it’s the production challenge that has lingered for years in one form or another. Sometimes it’s the conversation with a talented individual who isn’t living up to their potential or the needs of the organization. And sometimes it’s simply a sense of unease. The type in which everyone can feel that things aren’t quite as they should be. But no one knows exactly what the problem is or how to fix it.
The easy path is to accept these challenges as inevitable and ignore them. Or overly simplify them. Make progress on a heavily simplified version of the problem, that allows you to “solve it,” but that doesn’t actually get to the root of it.
The better path is harder. You roll up your sleeves and dig into the mess. Knowing that through the struggle is the only reliable path to a better end state. Progress isn’t obvious, and the lived experience is often frustrating. It feels like you’re holding things together with both hands, fighting to keep your head above water.
And still, you keep going. You define the current state, clarify the direction, dissect the gap, and begin to close it. You try, you learn, and you try again. It’s slow and it’s taxing—but it matters.
The Cost Of Carrying Hard Problems
The more I find myself in this space, the more I notice the shift. The excitement fades. There are fewer quick wins. What’s left is a quieter tension, a heavier responsibility, and the weight that comes with it.
There’s suffering. Not in a dramatic sense, as a victim or a martyr, but in the very real sense that this kind of work takes something out of you. And if you don’t acknowledge that cost and learn how to carry it, it will eventually consume you.
Scott Peck once wrote that the amount of impact we can have in life is directly proportional to the amount we’re willing to suffer. The more I sit with that idea, the more it rings true.
Meaning and difficulty are not opposites. They walk together. The deeper I lean into work that matters, the more I feel both.
But there’s a danger here too. It’s easy to convince yourself you’re drawn to the hard problems for noble reasons, when really you’re chasing status or recognition. That story makes the stress feel heroic, the sacrifice like a badge of honor, the pressure proof of importance. But it doesn’t last. It burns people out, it damages families, and it leaves behind regrets.
Finding Purpose In The Pressure
There’s another way I’m learning to approach this work. The difficulty doesn’t go away, but the foundation is different. The motivation comes from purpose, from love, from a desire to grow.
When I’m rooted there, I can take on the same challenges without letting them hollow me out. I can come home with something left for the people I care about. And I can even find energy in the mess itself, knowing my time and attention are being put toward something that matters.
It reminds me of parenting. Raising kids is exhausting and repetitive. It’s full of frustration.
But it also carries a kind of joy that runs deeper than pleasure. It isn’t always fun, but it’s deeply meaningful. When I have the perspective to step back, I see that nothing could be more important.
That’s the feeling I want to bring into my work. Not to confuse it with family, since it’s clearly not the same, but to approach hard problems with the same kind of commitment and the same recognition that meaning and struggle live side by side.
I’m not there yet. I still get overwhelmed. I still let stress leak into the places it doesn’t belong. I still fall short of who I want to be. But that’s the nature of meaningful work. If it were easy, someone else would have already done it.
The opportunity comes through the challenge. And the path is to sit with the tension, work through it, learn from it, and keep showing up.
The work hurts. And it’s worth it.
– Brandon Bartneck, VP of Engineering | Brandon.Bartneck@pjws.com
To hear more, tune into Episode #262 on the podcast Building Better with Brandon Bartneck.
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