Imagine this: You keep a charging cable in your car because you've been caught with a dead phone too many times. You keep a "go bag" packed for the gym so morning workouts don't require decision-making. You're ahead of the game, instead of scrambling behind. You feel competent and confident. You focus on creating systems to minimize time spent on mundane activities. You develop upstream solutions in order to avoid downstream problems.
Minimalism itself is an upstream solution to many of life's problems. From keeping all your stuff easily accessible to making a potential move more manageable, minimalism invites us to consider ways to make life easier in both the short and long term. Some strategies to get there may seem effortful, but they actually save us from future efforts that may be stressful, cause anxiety, or be less effective.
While a minimalist lifestyle inherently does some upstream work through its focus on simplification, you can choose to make it a focal point. You can target areas where you need upstream solutions the most. Consider your most frustrating struggles: Arriving at destinations late? Only meeting deadlines by pulling all-nighters? Not having the right things in the right place when you need them? Lack of confidence in your ability to master life administration? By focusing on where upstream solutions will be most useful, you can build systems and processes with purpose.
But before you can build these upstream strategies, you'll need to unpack what has kept you mired in downstream problems and be ready to counter any resistance you feel to them going forward. Upstream solutions are difficult for a few reasons. First, much like our aversion to delayed gratification, we tend to devalue actions that don't provide an immediate sense of pleasure or positive reinforcement. While it's understandable and very human to favor the now over future gains, we often don't set up our future selves well, even when the trade-off today is minor.
Another thwarter of strategic preparation is wishful thinking. While not always assuming the worst reduces worry, being cognizant of common problems or high-risk situations is better than crossing your fingers. Assuming traffic will be light rather than building in buffer time, or thinking you'll remember to buy batteries when you're at the store rather than adding them to a list immediately—these are the small acts of magical thinking that create downstream stress.
A third difficulty in developing upstream solutions is simply failing to recognize such opportunities in the first place. Yes, we know that starting our taxes earlier is better than scrambling at the last minute, but it's harder to anticipate the actions and structures we can put in place now to make the downstream process less stressful. After we send off the return on April 15th, we immediately set aside any lessons learned and figure out upstream solutions we can put in place for next year.
Ask yourself: What can I do instead? Even simple things like creating an analog or digital folder (or both) to collect documents, receipts, or notes throughout the year. Taking a photo of receipts immediately rather than collecting crumpled papers. Setting a calendar reminder in December to gather documents before year-end. Keeping a simple spreadsheet of deductible expenses updated monthly. Researching accountants so we have one in place before they get too busy to take on new clients. Or scheduling certain tasks on our calendar to pace the project and not forget important steps.
Finally, even when actively working on upstream solutions, we can unintentionally make them more complex than necessary, adding extra work or inefficiencies in an attempt to be more efficient. We may also forget that they should start as experiments that can be iterated on or tweaked.
Creating realistic systems is key, and this goal is well served by honest reflection at the outset of solution ideation. Implementing a personal reflection and review activity after encountering problems or failures in the system you used can be an effective way to hone your upstream solution skills.
Downstream problems are not inevitable. They are flashing signs of where to look for upstream opportunities. Often, we look for ways to grasp some control in our unruly lives. So much is left to chance and circumstance. Focusing on upstream solutions is an opportunity to recognize the value in trade-offs and participate more actively in our own lives.