I’ve gotten regular migraines since I was a kid. My poor parents worried about my head (insert your joke here) on a regular basis. I did the whole allergy test thing, the brain scan thing, and gave my parents the I-swear-I’m-not-faking-it thing. (For all you Office fans, that’s what she said.) Others who get migraines will vouch for me–they’re just plain awful. When let go, they knock me clear out of commission. Nausea. Dizziness. Extreme sensitivity to sound and light. Intense pain. Vomiting. I flat out can’t function.

Short version: they really, really suck.

For years I’ve tried different methods of finding some sort of relief from the dumb things. But nothing–nothing–really ever did much for me. Recently, however, this changed. I was prescribed a certain medication, and for the first time in my life, it actually seems to help if I can get the medicine in my system soon enough. So I pop the pill, close my eyes for 30-60 minutes, and wake up a less-in-pain guy. It’s amazing. Fellow migraine sufferers, back me up on this: There’s little that feels better than when your migraine eases back to just a regular headache. It just feels awesome. (Too soon for another that’s what she said?)

It boils down to this: When I sense the migraine coming on, I take the necessary steps to address the pain.

Organizations and teams have to work through painful stuff all the time, right? We see products or services that are broken. We notice that managers are shirking their responsibility and privilege to lead. We can tell our marketing isn’t resonating with its intended audience. We see that our teams aren’t functioning well.

So I guess the question is simple: Why don’t we right away do what we know we need to do to lead through situations like these? Why do we let issues evolve into these gigantic kerfuffles instead of dealing with them sooner?