What a Jigsaw taught me about Success

Over the festive period my wife and I started a Christmas jigsaw puzzle. It was a nice 500 piece picture of Santa feeding some animals in the woods.

Now I haven't turned my hand to jigsaws since I was a child and then a short stint during jury duty a few years ago. But nothing in the realm of a 500 piece puzzle.

Little did I know the puzzle was going to be an analogy for success...

So here's what I learnt:

Have your vision in mind (end goal)

There was a beautiful picture on the box laid out before me. This was the end goal we wanted to replicate. Amazing. It was baically a road map we could use.

What do you want your end point to be?

Work on the corners and edges (structure)

The old me would have begun working frantically. Thankfully my wife told me it was better if we tackled the edges and corners first. They're a lot easier to identify, so they're an easy win to eliminate. After you complete the edges you also have a framework to continue your puzzle in, with a better idea of the shape and size you're working with.

When you have a structure it is so much easier to work within. In other words a container is necessary to work your magic in.

Work on the detail (niche down)

We both worked on different sections. I tackled St. Nick's presents. It wasn't easy when a box begins to look like a shadow but eventually I got there. Then I turned to the log he was sitting on.

When you hone into an area of focus you make your workload much easier. You always have the ability to expand or work on another area once you've committed your efforts in one for a while.

Now here's the biggest lesson...

A series of tipping points leads to momentum...but they always plateau

There was an embarrassing level of joy when we completed the log, then the trees. We were on a roll. Pieces were clicking in. The random blob turned out to be a nose, the red of his suit was actually the red of his cheeks. Things began to make sense. We felt unstoppable...until we stopped. Evetually the momentum slowed to a halt and we were back to figuring it all out again. But it happened again and again and again until the final piece fell into place and we were done!

Success isn't just one achievemet. It is a series of tipping points. Tipping points that lead to momentum and then plateaus. But you keep committing and being consistent. Eventually you hit another tipping point and another...and another.