Once the border is in place and the puzzling piles have been made, then the real work begins. If you have in mind what you want your life to become, then you must be willing to work at making it just that. In both completing a puzzle and living life, the only way to get the most out of them is by facing the hard times head on. Don’t try and shy away from the hard steps in life, embrace them.
And so the steps continue on.
4. Through the whole process you have to continually be looking at the box top, and you must look closely
As you go about placing pieces and finding what fits, it is easy to lose focus on what you want while facing the busyness of everyday life. When you seem to have lost focus, go back and look at the box top to remind yourself what you are aiming for. If you are not continually looking at the box top, then you are not going to be able to find where you want the pieces to fit. Each piece looks very abstract by itself until it is compared to the overall picture. So when a piece seems a bit random, look closely at the box top to find a little clarity.
5. Sometimes the only option is to try every single piece
While doing a puzzle, you may reach a point where you don’t know what part of the puzzle to solve next. In this position, the best option may be to pick a spot and patiently try every single piece until one fits. There are going to be many pieces that look alike, and in trying to find the one that fits, a lot of times it ends up being one of the last pieces left in your pile. So if you don’t know what to do, then just pick something on your to do list, do it, and don’t stop until it is done. Don’t stop until each piece has been given an opportunity. And don’t forget that if you didn’t find it the first time around, you probably just missed it, so ring the bell for round two.
6. Don’t try to force a piece where it doesn’t belong
While doing a puzzle there are certain pieces, in certain places, where you would very much like them to fit and they somewhat do. But even though it may slightly fit, it is taking a spot away from the piece which will fit just right. So be patient and keep looking. If your impatience has left you forcing what shouldn’t be, then all the other pieces will not be able to fit where they were meant to. In the process you may damage pieces, and in the end the pieces won’t line up. With the puzzle, in the end, straying far from its final form. Puzzle pieces were made to fit somewhere, so don’t stop until each one does. With this goal before you, don’t forget that a difficult puzzle is not meant to be a sprint, and the same goes for life.
Once you have the border in place and the pieces in piles, then you just need to try pieces in different places to see where they fit. In life there are certain areas in your life where stuff just seems to work out, and other areas where you have to work more at things to get the right placement. The majority of people throw in the towel when all the easy pieces have been placed, and only ever live with a partially finished picture. Don’t stop short when it gets hard, because you might never see what your puzzle was meant to portray.
Life, keep it simple and live it
Josh