Still Trying To Solve This Puzzle Called Life?
By: Tuseet Jha
Tags: Living, Puzzle, Life, Strategy, Problem Solving

Still Trying To Solve This Puzzle Called Life?

Here is one way to go about doing that…

If you ever grew up solving puzzles, you know how much fun the entire process can be! Do you remember the satisfaction you get when you find that one missing piece that you have been looking for in your pile of puzzle pieces?

When was the last time you sat down to solve a puzzle?

After ages, I finally got to try my hand at solving a 1000 piece puzzle and with five of us struggling to solve it for a few hours, I decided to do what any other person would do — I decided to google how to solve a 1000 piece puzzle.

As I started reading through some of the advice, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between solving a puzzle and figuring out life — which is just another unsolved puzzle.

Some of us are very good at it and have most of it figured out. A lot of us started off wrong and are now taking everything apart to rebuild it. And then there are the rest of us who have started off in the right direction. These are people who have the edges figured out, and are now making our way slowly towards the center.

Life Is Just Another Puzzle

Imagine if we thought of life as a 1000 or 2000 or 10000 piece puzzle! Would your approach to life change?

I bet it would because nobody likes an unsolved puzzle!

The parallels are freakishly similar!

Choose a puzzle

Pick the problem you want to solve or go after in life. Maybe you want to find a cure for cancer or perhaps you want to clean the ocean or better yet, you want to eliminate poverty from this earth. Whatever it is, wouldn’t have an easy solution but rather something that you would have to put together piece by piece.

What is the puzzle that you want to solve?

Start with the end

When you buy a puzzle, it comes with a picture of what the finished product should look like. It is what you keep referencing time and again when you are stuck or need inspiration. In life, that is what you call your purpose or vision. Whenever you need inspiration, you just have to visualize it or look at it or surface it to keep going.

Always work with the end in mind. Use it as your true north.

Work space

You need the proper environment to be able to solve the puzzle. You need to find a quiet place where you can focus. You need a proper table, big enough for you to be able to spread out the pieces and put them together.

Similarly, in life, you need to find a work space that inspires you and keeps you in a high performance state. Some people work best in bustling coffee shops while others need the quiet and peaceful corner in a library to focus.

I recently moved houses because frankly speaking the previous one was not inspiring and extremely soul sucking! It was as if I am in Azkaban (Harry Potter fans rejoice!). Not enough natural light, right next to an empty piece of land with garbage piling up, small cramped up space that I could not deal with anymore and surrounded by dementors!

Setup or pre-work

This is what the cooks call Mise En Place. You set everything up before you go to work. With the puzzles, you try to arrange them by colors or patterns before you start putting it together. It enables you to solve it quicker. It accelerates your success

In order to succeed in life, in you need to set yourself up by cleaning up your environment.

Want to quit smoking, then stop hanging out among smokers.

Want to eat healthier, get rid of all the unhealthy snacks at home.

Want to become an actor, then start hanging out and networking with actors. Go where the work is.

How You Put Together A Puzzle Is Very Similar To How You Put Together Your Life

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

Start with the easy pieces

You start with what you know. What you know is a lot like the edge pieces in a puzzle. You know that the edge pieces will always have one plain side, which makes it easier to separate out and put them together.

Once the uncomplicated sections are completed, it starts to become much easier to focus on the more complicated or detailed parts. Similarly with life, you start from what you know. You reach out to people you know and you pull from experiences that you have had and then build on it as you go along.

Only when you have learned to take the first step can you move on to walking, climbing stairs or running.

Work on small sections at a time

Small steps daily, creates a snowball effect in life. Just like a puzzle is put together piece by piece, focusing on one section at a time, your life will be built not by massive undertakings but rather small consistent steps practices over time.

Most of the things we pursue don’t require brilliance or talent. Most of them just require consistency and small changes.

Build a framework

Solving a 1000 piece puzzle will not be possible without having a framework in place. I mean you can solve it without a framework but I can bet it will become tiring after the third puzzle.

Frameworks on the other hand — in life and when solving a puzzle — give you a sense of direction. They tell you that you are headed in the right direction and although there are a lot of tough turns to negotiate, if you follow through on each step, you will eventually get there.

You can choose to start with the same color, or the edges or the same landscapes just like with life, you start with a process and then improvise.

And the best part — once you see the results, you get motivated to improve instead of becoming frustrated and giving up. You are able to tweak it to meet your needs instead of scratching your head over better ways to do it!

Take a break from time to time

When we were solving this 1000 piece puzzle, we stopped the moment we got frustrated. On some days, we only worked on it for an hour and then came back the next week to work on it, just so we can look at it from a fresh pair of eyes.

In life also, you need to take breaks to recharge and rejuvenate. Rest is important. It is in fact more important than you might agree. I work out consistently and on days when I don’t get enough sleep, my body just doesn’t feel the same or perform at the same level. Working out when you have slept only 4 hours is a very different experience than when you have slept 6.

How Far Along Are You With Your Puzzle?

Life is very much a puzzle and we are all trying to figure it out. Some of us are further along than others. A lot of us are crawling while some of us are speed walking. The good thing though, is that we don’t need to rush. We can take our sweet little time and figure it out.

What however is not acceptable, is that we give up. It is not acceptable that we stop and settle instead of taking on new puzzles every time we are done with one.

Solving puzzles is just a training on living life. It is a very high level simulation of what life could be and how to go about navigating it. If you have never tried your hand at one, I urge you to try solving one today. Maybe solving that will give you the inspiration you need or better yet, maybe it will show you the way to your missing piece!

And the best part about a puzzle being the metaphor for life — is that every puzzle is solvable!