A Childhood Toy
A Childhood Toy
Inspiration and ideas really do come from the unlikeliest of sources
Last weekend was one of those times where your kids ask you for something and then they continue to ask, again and again. Almost like they want to wear you down into submission to say yes. If you have kids you know what I mean.
They wanted to go to the local Bricks & Minifigs store for some LEGO things.
Yes, I finally gave in. It did work. But not until they cleaned up the living room, as well as their rooms. That was the deal.
As we arrived at Bricks & Minifigs, what I saw in the glass case for sale shocked me. It was my first LEGO as a little kid and really the first toy I remember from my childhood.
It was a fire station set that I still to this day remember putting together for the first time. The small fire truck I still have together and it’s up on the shelf in my son’s room as a collector that he knows not to play with.
To see this set brought me back to memories as a little kid. I bought the fire station LEGO set and we took it home where the kids and I put it together.
After an hour, we finished it.
Making this with the kids was such a wonderful and fun experience. Something I won’t forget.
There was something else that came out of this for me. How and why this came about I may never fully understand.
All week leading up to this, I had spent countless hours on two issues I was trying to solve with my business. I’d allocated time to just focusing on finding these solutions. I had a brainstorming/brain dump session. We discussed them in a team meeting. I’d spent time at night racking my brain for answers to these problems to no avail. It was bothering the hell out of me.
To my shock, you know what came about as I finished building that LEGO with my kids?
Two ideas that solved those two issues that I had been struggling with all week long.
How? Why? I’m not totally sure. Sure there may be psychological reasoning behind it. But regardless, I really learned from this.
I learned from this wonderful lifetime memory with my kids.
There are days, weeks, months that we struggle to find answers. Struggle to find that big idea or final piece to a puzzle.
Maybe the key is to relax and unwind. To forget about it and let your mind do something joyous and memorable. Step back to get a renewed or fresh focus.
Why can’t I figure out this problem at work? Why isn’t this investment working out? Why isn’t my business achieving this? How do we grow this area? What is it that we can do to improve this or that? You get the point.
Sometimes we look up, down and all around for answers. We rack our brain so much that we wear ourselves out.
Inspiration and ideas come at the unlikeliest of times. Times when you’re not even thinking about it.
Rediscover a joy in your life. Do something that you’re good at or enjoy doing. Maybe you haven’t done it in years. Go try it. Don’t be afraid to relive your youth.
If you come across your childhood toy, spend a moment and play with it. Bring back the memories. Maybe you can even relive them with your kids or family.
You never know what could happen. It’s worth the fun.
The Coffee Table ☕
Lenny Rachitsky who writes
had a really good and helpful post on time management. Time management techniques that actually work This is a post you read once and bookmark because you will likely need to read it again.With the recent uptick in airline cancellations, this was a timely visual showing America’s Most Reliable Airlines.
Source: Visual Capitalist
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