When Problems Keep Stacking Up — What Day 1996 Taught Me About Solving Over Spiralling

Today started in a minor injuries unit.

Not the start to a morning I had planned, but there I was, waiting to find out whether the pain in my foot is a stress fracture or a stress reaction. The specialists cannot confirm it yet — apparently x-raying too early can miss a stress fracture entirely — so I have another appointment in a couple of weeks. Until then, it is a case of icing it, monitoring it, and hoping it does not get any worse. The key thing I was told is that if there is no increased redness, heat or further inflammation, it is not deteriorating. That is what I am holding onto right now.

I left the hospital and went straight into a day that did not let up.

A property six hours away that has been through multiple rounds of repairs — what we thought was finally resolved — fell back into question when the incoming tenants produced a new snagging list before they would move in. Then a conversion project financing issue. Then a meeting about two businesses I have recently closed and everything that comes with that process. Knock after knock after knock.

I am on day 1996 of a consecutive daily running streak. Cumulative distance is 19,960km of a 40,075km goal — the equivalent of a lap of the world. I am running in barefoot-style footwear every single day, producing a vlog, and working to raise £1 million for children's causes including Great Ormond Street Hospital and BBC Children in Need. And today I did all of that on a foot that may or may not have a stress fracture.

I am not telling you that to seek sympathy. I am telling you because it is the reality of what this mission looks like from the inside on difficult days. It is not all forward momentum and clear skies. Sometimes it is sitting in a waiting room hoping the news is not as bad as you fear, and then going to deal with a full day of problems that were always going to need dealing with, whether I was injured or not.

Here is what I kept coming back to today.

There is a quote I heard a long time ago — I cannot recall who said it originally — but it has never left me. It goes something like this: the most successful people in the world are those who solve the most problems the most efficiently. Not the people who have the fewest problems. Not the people who are luckiest or best resourced. The ones who can process, respond and move forward the quickest.

Problems are self-perpetuating. That is not a pessimistic view — it is simply accurate. The more ground you cover in business, in property, in any long-term endeavour, the more problems surface. You solve one and two more appear. That is not a sign that things are going wrong. It is a sign that things are moving. The issue is never the volume of problems. The issue is your capacity and speed to work through them.

Today, for all its difficulty, I managed to find a viable path forward for every single thing that landed on my desk. Every one. That does not mean the problems are solved permanently — some of them will come back in a different form. But I moved each one forward. I took a breath, assessed the situation honestly, worked out what the realistic next step was, and put a plan in place.

When I look at it that way, today was a productive day. It did not feel like one while it was happening. It felt draining and demoralising. But demoralising and unproductive are not the same thing. I think it is worth separating those two feelings, because conflating them can make you believe you are failing when you are actually just tired.

The running streak mirrors this exactly. There are days when running is the last thing I want to do. There are days, like today, when I am nursing an injury that causes genuine pain, where getting my body temperature up is a struggle and each step requires a decision to keep going. But the streak is built day by day. 1996 consecutive days. Not because every day is easy — most are not — but because I show up regardless.

That consistency is the whole point. Not just for the mission, but as a lived demonstration of what it means to keep going when the conditions are against you. The children we are raising money for through this mission do not get to choose their circumstances. They did not ask for the challenges they face. The least I can do is not let a difficult day be the reason I stop.

I still have 20,115km to cover to complete the full 40,075km distance. I still have a significant way to go on the fundraising. Neither of those facts changes based on how hard today was. The distance remaining does not shrink because the day was tough, but it does not grow either. It stays exactly where it is, waiting for tomorrow's effort.

If today resonates with you — if you are in a season of business or life where it feels like all you are doing is firefighting — I want to offer this. You are probably solving more than you realise. The fact that new problems keep appearing is not evidence that you are doing it wrong. It may well be evidence that you are doing it at all. Most people stop before they get to the point where the problems start stacking up. You are still in it.

Keep solving. Keep moving. That is what today taught me, on foot 1996 of a very long run.

If you want to follow the journey or support the fundraising for Great Ormond Street Hospital and BBC Children in Need, the links are in the video description.