Dots

I keep a notepad by my bedside so I can jot down ideas and last night, while thinking about an upcoming speech to an organization, I was able to refine some earlier thoughts, connect them to a major problem faced by the organization, and produce a solution. I feel very good about that.

Morning has arrived and the solution looks better than ever, (sometimes they don't seem so wise in daylight) but now I'm wondering why I didn't spot the connection sooner. As with the line by Lao-tzu that we look at it but do not see it, I've been staring at this problem for over a year and yet missed an item that was doing flips in front of my eyes. I saw the indentations it made on the carpet, could describe the changes in the surroundings, could feel the air move, but did not remove the extraneous to reveal the substance.

I don't yet have the answer to why the solution was missed, but the process that produced this solution is going onto my analysis of future issues.

[Tip: Keep a notebook of past approaches and guidelines and go over what you know. The solution may be lurking in a seemingly unconnected scenario.]