If you have a problem and you know what to do to solve the problem and how you know how to do it, and you still don't do it, you have at least two problems, and neither happen to be the problem you think you have. Lets say, for example, you have a chunk of stubborn belly fat that wont seem to go away. You know you need to work out, you know you need to eat right, you've done your research, you know which works outs to do, you know which foods to avoid, and you find that when you work out you get to those specific workout that will target your chunk and you do one set of half assed whatevers and then you pat yourself on the back and you go grab a burrito even though you know that's going to fill up the chunk cavity even more.

So this stubborn chunk is what seems like your first problem. The truth, however, is that the chunk of fat that's sitting above your waist is not your problem at all, and/or if it is, it's a third problem that's actually a manifestation of the other two.

So what are the other two? You're first problem is the fact that despite knowing the what and how of getting rid of that chunk you still can't do it. Your second problem is of the subtle variety, which makes it more difficult to recognize, though no less of a reality. This second problem is thinking and believing that the fat on your waste is the problem in the first place. This is not your problem, because once you get over the real problem the fat can't be there. It's not allowed to be there because you know what to do to get rid of it and how to do it, right? And so once you recognize this, you're left with just problem number one:

What exactly is preventing you from doing the 'whathow'?

In short, it's you that's in the way, but that's difficult to wrap your noodle around since it's also you that's got the solution. Basically, though, you are a machine that forgets things, but you're always thinking something (unless that then there - not thinking - is your practice of practices, in which case you'll do the whathow and you won't need to worry about the problem in the first place because you wont have one), and since you're always thinking something, as soon as you hit that wall where the whathow, the key to success, is necessary to apply in order to start chewing away at that chunky rim, a thingything becomes real important to you. This thingything is so important that it/you inflate/s to a proportion that makes the whathow seem like a grain a rice next to a 16oz steak. You kind of just shovel the piece rice off the plate, eat up the steak and wonder what's on Netflix tonight.

This thingything is a habit of sorts. A tendency you have and one that you become as soon as you're there. It consumes your mind and pushes out whatever was present before it arrived. You become this new mind, this thingything, and you have no access to anything that was there before. This is habitual and it is natural, but it is not inevitable, and since this thingything is the phenomenon that you inhabit (or vice versa) when you get to where you need to be, this thingything, this mind, this habit, is your actual problem. And your first step in solving this problem is figuring out the whathow. Just keep an eye out for the thingything, because it'll be there for this problem too.