Man, sometimes you just hit a wall, right? Like you’re doing your thing, day in and day out, and suddenly it feels like you’re just spinning tires. That’s exactly where I found myself a while back. I was neck-deep in this project at work, and it just felt like we were going nowhere fast. Every meeting was a rehash, every proposed solution met with another problem, and the whole vibe was just… stuck. I really needed a way forward, a breakthrough, but couldn’t see it for the life of me.
I remembered an old book, my I Ching. I’d dabbled with it before, mostly out of curiosity, but this time, I was serious. I needed some insight, some clarity. So, one evening, after another frustrating day, I grabbed my coins, cleared my head, and laid out the question: “What do I need to understand about this situation to move forward?”
Drawing Hexagram 43: Gua Guai
I threw the coins, slowly, deliberately. Six times. And what did I get? Hexagram 43. Gua Guai. My book called it “Breakthrough” or “Resoluteness.” At first glance, I was like, “Yeah, no kidding. Tell me something new.” My initial reaction was pure frustration. It felt like the I Ching was just stating the obvious. Of course, I needed a breakthrough. Who doesn’t want that when they’re stuck?
I read the general commentary, something about “resolute action” and “cutting through.” My immediate thought was, “Okay, so I just need to push harder, right? Just muscle my way through this mess at work.” So, for the next few days, that’s what I tried to do. I pushed more. I argued more in meetings. I tried to force solutions. And you know what happened? Absolutely nothing. It just got worse. More friction, more resistance, more headaches. I was banging my head against the wall, thinking the I Ching was either broken or just way over my head.
The Deeper Dig: Not Just Smashing
That’s when I sat down again, really annoyed, and decided to actually read the darn thing properly, not just skim. I went back to Hexagram 43, looking at the lines, at the image, at the deeper commentary. That’s when it started to click. The image of Gua Guai is a lake high above heaven. Water trying to break through and burst forth. But it wasn’t just about the raw power of the water. The commentary also spoke of “danger at the top” and “decisive action without resorting to violence.” It talked about removing what is corrupt or undesirable, like a firm but careful hand dealing with a splinter.
This stopped me cold. “Without resorting to violence.” My whole approach had been “violence,” in a metaphorical sense. I was trying to smash through the problem, not remove it. I started looking at the individual lines, especially the warning about not acting recklessly. That’s when the lightbulb really went off. The “breakthrough” wasn’t about a sudden, brute-force change. It was about seeing clearly what needed to go, and then acting with firm, clear, and principled resolve to remove it.
My “Aha!” Moment and the Action
I realized the core problem wasn’t the project itself, but a specific, deeply ingrained process we were following that was outdated and inefficient. It was like a dead branch on a healthy tree – it wasn’t helping, it was just draining energy and causing rot. And trying to “push harder” on the project while that rotten branch was still there was pointless. It needed to be cut out.
So, instead of just pushing for more hours or different tasks, I shifted my focus. I started preparing a detailed proposal to restructure that specific, problematic process. I talked to colleagues, not to complain, but to gather intel on why that process was failing and what a better alternative looked like. I didn’t get loud or aggressive. I just started gathering facts, building a case, and figuring out the right way to present the necessary change.
It wasn’t easy. It took a few weeks of careful planning and tactful conversations. There was resistance, of course, because people don’t like change. But I kept coming back to that idea of “resoluteness without violence.” I stood firm on the need for change, but I presented it calmly, with data, and with clear steps for implementation. I was decisive about what needed to be removed, but gentle in how I delivered the message and guided the process.
The Breakthrough Achieved
And you know what? It worked. We didn’t just “break through” a barrier; we systematically removed the obstruction. The old process was phased out, and a new, more streamlined one took its place. The project suddenly gained momentum, and the whole team felt a huge sense of relief. It wasn’t a dramatic, explosive breakthrough like I first imagined. It was a clear, firm, and deliberate act of removal that cleared the path.
That whole experience taught me so much about Hexagram 43. “Breakthrough” isn’t about just smashing things blindly. It’s about having the clarity to see what’s truly holding you back, and then having the resoluteness to address it directly, without chaos or unnecessary force, but with a firm hand and a clear purpose. It really gave me a whole new perspective on how to tackle tough situations, whether at work or in life. Sometimes, you gotta cut the dead wood to let the rest flourish.
