Do you love doing jigsaw puzzles? I find that they are consuming. They allow you to completely focus on something and put all the things that are rattling through your mind: problems to solve, opportunities to take advantage of, people to help, aside as you look at something with one solution, one way that the pieces fit perfectly together.
It was late on a Saturday night and I had been unable to step away from the puzzle I was working on. The kids had long given up and moved on to toys with buttons and video screens. The house was quiet as everyone had gone to bed, and I had some rare time to myself. As I placed the last piece into the puzzle I was working on, I looked down in satisfaction. The solution was a beautiful winter landscape with icicles, snow, and lights shining through frosted windows. As usual, by focusing my thoughts on a tangible problem, I allowed my mind to wander and some insights presented themselves.
Problems at work are like puzzles in that there is no one right way to get to the solution. Pieces can go into a puzzle in any millions of different ways to achieve to the same solution. There is no “right order” to solve it. Many would tell you the “correct way” to approach a puzzle: find the corner pieces first, then find the straight edged pieces, complete the outline, and then find unusual shapes or colors within the puzzle to work on next, and build from there until complete. That perhaps is a “best practice,” but certainly not the only way the solution can be achieved. No two people will put together a puzzle the exact same way, with the pieces going in the exact same order. Our biases, prior experiences, and environment affect how we approach the task of putting the pieces together. Don’t get caught up on the “right” way to approach the problem. That is not to say that there are paths you shouldn’t follow. You know those. But there may be more than one way to get to a solution, keep your mind open to the possibilities of various approaches. Find the correct solution, for you, for the circumstances, for the environment.
When dealing with problems at work, they are nothing like puzzles in that there is no one solution. A puzzle has one solution. The picture is supposed to look a certain way. If not completed correctly, the picture is wrong. When dealing with challenges, there is no one sure solution, one that you can drive to with certainty. Instead, problems are dynamic. They are evolving as outside forces press upon them and people’s behavior impacts them. They have multiple ways in which one can reach resolution, many potential solutions. Albeit some may be better than others, there is no “one” definitively correct solution.
Daunting? Well perhaps, but I think not. Once you free yourself from the quest to find the “one” right solution and open your mind to the potential of many solutions, then you realize that the solution is within your grasp. Put the pieces together to create the solution that is the right one for you. All you have to do is open yourself up many possible solutions. Don’t limit yourself. Have you been thinking on this problem for days and still can’t solve it? Disengage. Yes, that’s what I recommend. Disengage.
Do a puzzle every once in a while. I sat by the pool on my last vacation, smartphone in hand from finishing some e-mails, and looked around at my companions. Almost all the adults had one in hand as well. I wondered if they too were unable to really get away from work. Disconnecting has become one of our greatest challenges. When was the last time you put the phone down and left it for a full day? With the constant connection, how can our mind wander? How do we allow it time to be creative and approach solutions in its own unstructured and unfettered way? How can we allow it time to make observations and connections that will lead us to insights and solutions? That might be doing a puzzle, hiking, or even reading a blog! Every once in a while, you must allow your mind to disconnect from the everyday, let it reach out and explore. You never know what puzzles you may solve.
