Ever feel like you’re stuck in a box?
Not a real box, of course. That’d be dark. And kinda lonely.
I’m talking figuratively. About how you think. Specifically, about how you problem solve.
Are you? Stuck in a box?
I recently made a post about my persistent neighbor who watered the grass outside his condo heavily, for weeks, insisting that the grass was not be getting enough water, otherwise it’d be growing. When another neighbor noticed the excessive watering, she explained that the grass wasn’t in need of water, but of sunlight. A large tree above was blocking the sun. Ah! The light bulb!
So, instead of watering, it seemed that some trimming was in order. Problem solved. Three weeks later, the grass is lush and my neighbor is happy.
This morning, I shared this story with a group of professionals, and then followed with an exercise that perfectly reveals the box that so many of us create, and don’t even realize it.
Are you familiar with the nine dots exercise?
Here are your dots:
And here are the rules:
1. Connect all nine dots using four lines
2. You may not lift your pen/pencil from the paper
3. You may not retrace a line
That’s it. Those are the rules, and those are the only rules.
Now print this out, and give it a whirl. Be aware of your thoughts and feelings as you work on connecting the nine dots.
Just so you know, this is not “impossible” and don’t accept that you “just can’t get it.”
The truth is, you have the answer, but you are creating something with the nine dots that does not actually exist.
There, that’s your one clue.
Let me know how it goes, and what you realize from this insightful and eye-opening exercise about thinking outside of the box. If you want the answer, just say so in your comments and I’ll send it to you.
But only after I know you gave it your very best attempt!
