What I learned while doing a jigsaw puzzle
It was a holiday weekend in my part of the world and a fabulous excuse for some downtime. The perfect time to start the new jigsaw puzzle I received for Christmas.
As I unboxed my puzzle and started laying out the pieces, it occurred to me that there’s much to be learned from doing a jigsaw puzzle.
Staring at 1000 little pieces, I remember to tackle the challenges joyfully and not be overwhelmed.
Sorting the puzzle is a perfect way to hone my organisational skills and eye for detail.
Finding the right piece reminds me that intuition counts. I will find success if I look at the big picture and trust my instincts.
With some progress made, I find a lesson in gratitude — to appreciate what I have achieved not the magnitude of what remains to be done.
Doing a puzzle in the middle of a busy household encourages others to join in to help and have fun — often finding the exact piece needed.
These lessons are equally applicable to my work (and life). There’s rarely a day that I’m not facing a puzzle of some sort to solve. Often it can be just as daunting as staring at 1000 little pieces, not quite sure if I’ll find the right piece to create the beautiful picture at the end.
It pays to remember these lessons I’ve learned from doing a jigsaw puzzle. The process for starting my puzzle is much like the rigour needed for any work project. I will start the puzzle by first finding the corners and sorting out the border pieces. Any work project needs to be scoped out and clear boundaries established. Working on a jigsaw, I’ll then group pieces by colour and shape — in much the same way I might break a work project up into sub-plans for different phases or deliverables. Applying the same process from a jigsaw to work projects is sure to reduce the initial overwhelm and leaving me able to tackle the challenge joyfully.
Just as a jigsaw puzzle is a real mix of big picture thinking and focusing in on the detail, so are many of my work projects. Finding the right balance is a sure strategy for success. Particularly when the going gets tough. In this weekend’s puzzle, there was a vast expanse of sky. At first glance, it looked like a big area of blue. This was going to take forever to work through. Until I looked even closer to see that there were many shades of blue and sorting my pieces into these would save time. After a while of working on the detail, it all became a blur again, so stepping back and looking at the shapes from afar helped me to instinctively know which went where. On particularly difficult work projects it is easy to get caught in the trenches of the doing and the detail. Stepping back to look at what you have achieved, what is left to do and how it aligns with the overall plan, is vital.
There are never enough lessons to be learned in gratitude. In my work, I often find myself focusing on what remains undone — the never ending to do list or that last 20% of a project. After an hour spent on a jigsaw puzzle, I could choose to focus on the pile of pieces still unplaced. Or I can look at the emerging picture with wonder and pride that I am creating something from my efforts. In my work it is no different, I must also remember to pat myself on the back for making some real progress on my projects.
So, not only have I had fun doing my jigsaw this weekend, I’ve also had other members of my household (and some visitors) join in. By laying the puzzle out in the middle of the living room it has become a shared effort with people offering encouragement at how far I’ve come, as well as popping over to find an elusive piece of the puzzle now and again. Which leaves me with one of the more valuable lessons in the workplace. When we have a puzzle (problem) to solve at work we often toil over it ourselves. Feeling as though we need to find the answer and then present it to the team. However, laying out this problem for the whole team to work on together leaves you open to someone finding that elusive piece of the puzzle much quicker than may have been possible alone. Not to mention the fun and camaraderie of working on something together.
Jigsaw puzzles may not be your thing, however, I wonder if you can take the lessons I’ve learned from them into your life and work? Perhaps next time you are doing something outside of work for fun, you too may find a lesson or two in the activity?
Here’s to putting all the pieces together.