Left alone, a problem grows in the mind. Faced, it shrinks. “A problem or difficulty is only imposing when you sit around doing nothing about it, but when you stand up to it, its stature will be laughable.”

Innocent means the laugh almost literally — he laughs when challenges turn up, the way a champion with a run of victories behind him sizes up a weaker opponent. The power a problem holds over you is mostly the power your inaction lends it; one small decision, one small action at the right time, can cut it down with surprising force.

The rest of the chapter adds the craft: what to do and how you do it decide the outcome together. But the first move is always the same — stand up.