Lessons from a jigsaw puzzle

My children spent most of yesterday happily working together on a 1000-piece 3D puzzle that they got for Christmas. It made me think that doing a puzzle, especially a, is the perfect metaphor for anything you want to achieve in life:

To start with they had a clear goal and outcome they were working towards and a clear time frame to complete it yesterday afternoon.

Then they came up with a plan to achieve their goal, completing the puzzle, in a strategic and systematic way.

They persisted and stuck at it, never getting discouraged at how much further they still had to go to reach their goal. 

They were organized, which makes it much easier to see where all the pieces go and saves a lot of time in the long run.

This works with whatever it is you are trying to achieve in life. 

If you get organized, you will save yourself a lot of time and frustration. Especially if you chunk down your big goal into smaller, manageable, and organized piles of items, which is easier than approaching one big, disorganized pile.

Then they started building it, step by step, piece by piece. 

Just focusing on finding the next piece and adding it, enjoying the process, and not needing to figure out the whole picture before they even got started.

What made it enjoyable for them was not so much the puzzle in itself, but the teamwork and collaboration, happily working together towards a common goal.

Sometimes it can be hard to achieve our big goals on our own.

We procrastinate, we wait, we get busy, and don’t stay on track.

We get in our own way, we self-sabotage without realizing it, and we can’t see our blind spots and triggers.

We can’t see what we can’t see.

Sometimes we need someone who is in our corner, supporting us, challenging and championing us; someone who will walk by our side on a journey of self-discovery, self-learning, and personal growth.

If you have a big goal you would like to achieve this year, something you ardently want to change in your life but you know you are getting in your own way then this is the sign you have been waiting for. 

Now is the time for you to let go of the handbrake and unleash your full potential.