Good Morning,
Like many people with smartphones, I have a game or two that I play when there is nothing else to do or I am waiting on something. The game I play the most is called ‘Flow’ where you have to basically connect the same color dots to each other with lines, which do not intersect with other lines. See the photo below.
When working these puzzles I found that I can best solve them when I start connecting the dots where it is obvious they go together. Basically, I use what I know to get the puzzle solved. What happens next is the puzzle gets less complex and more solutions which were not apparent before now jump out.
I look at the new puzzle and ask myself, what do I already know about solving this. For example, from the yellow dot, we have to go left to the corner and up, as otherwise it would be cut off, etc.
This same philosophy can work in life, especially when we are at an impasse or confused about what course to take.
Asking for help is something I do often, but when there is no one to ask, or no reference to work off of, I revert to what I already know about how to solve this particular issue.
For example, when I want to college for the first time in Buffalo, NY, in 1986, when I was younger and more stupid. Since I did not have to attend class (attendance was not mandatory), I just paced myself and studied the night before each test. I remember walking into the second to last day of class to get a refresher for the final which I thought was on the last day of class. I ended up walking into a class with tests being handed out. I had not studied and I had a good chance of failing. I looked over the questions, 15 multiple choice, and cringed as I really did not know any.
Several years before, my parents sent me to a SAT preparation course which taught me test taking strategies for taking multiple choice questions, in order to raise my SAT scores. So I did know those strategies and I used them. I ended up coming out of the test with a ‘C’ overall and learned some valuable lessons.
One is to NEVER do that again with college classes, projects or anything else (i.e., waiting to the last minute), and second is to rely on what I know, in this case, I had test taking strategies which helped me pass.
I am not proud of that episode, but it is a good example of what to do when faced with a difficult challenge. When there is no one to ask for help, stop, and take stock of what you already know, and go forward with that first.
Enjoy!
Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.learnandgrowdaily.com
http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/ 
Click on the book to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"
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