Working on a loan that has no chance for approval. Trying to "fix" a person that refuses to help themselves. Wishing that you could be two places at once.

The above issues are all ones we would love to be able to resolve but there is no resolution.

The issues that you spend your time and energy on should be both important and improvable; otherwise you are just wasting precious time.

Consider the mythological story of Sisyphus, a very naughty figure who has punished for all of his misconduct by being doomed to the endless task of pushing a boulder up a hill. Just before he got to the top, he would inevitably lose hold and the boulder would roll back to the bottom of the hill. Then he would do it all over again and again and again. It was just a torturous death sentence.

His story is that of an image personifying vain labor and demonstrating that we should all avoid wasting time or even dwelling on un-winnable issues.

So why approach our issues as if they were Sisyphus's boulder? The "boulders" are our own creations and the immovable ones will disappear if we just stop pushing.