NIGHTS OF THE ROUND PUZZLE

I love building jigsaw puzzles. I don’t do them as often as I’d like but I truly enjoy kicking the other half of my brain in gear and fitting those funky looking pieces of cardboard together. The problem-solver in me gets so excited at the idea of taking a pile of cardboard pieces, sorting them out, and putting them together to form a complete picture. 

At the risk of crossing into total nerd-status here, I’m going to share a little story! One night last year, as I was perusing Amazon (this should be a national pastime…I can spend hours on Amazon…anyone else??), I came across an awesome puzzle of the zodiac symbols. I HAD to have it…but there was something about it, it was ROUND…I don’t know about you, but I didn’t even know puzzles came any way other than rectangular. I was intrigued, so I clicked “buy now” and the next day I had this new puzzle on my doorstep.

Giddy as can be, I dove into that box ready to rock, until I noticed something: there were way more pieces with flat edges than there should have been. Normally, when I start a puzzle, I follow the same procedure every time – find all the flat edge pieces first, then look for pieces that seem to go together or have the same colors, and work from there. 

Much to my dismay, this puzzle had flat edges INSIDE the image as well as around the edges. There went my game plan, completely destroyed, and there I was, having to reform my strategy on the fly. I regrouped and formed a different plan to get the job done…needless to say, about 3 days later, I finished the puzzle, and it is one of my favorites!

(not my actual puzzle, but a similar version)

When I think about the experience I had with that puzzle, I can’t help but think about how our communication experiences are similar. I have a process when I do a puzzle, just like I do when I prepare a speech, write an article, or design a presentation. When I do a puzzle, I look at the big picture first, work on the outline, find pieces that are similar, and then work inward. When I write or teach, I start with the end in mind, make an outline, define the topics, and fill in the specifics. (Little hint: this is the same process I teach my clients when it comes to learning how to be more effective communicators. 😊)

Being an effective communicator is all about practice and process. But you also have to be able to adjust on the run. Things won’t always go as planned. Maybe you’re giving a speech and your microphone dies? What are you going to do? Walk off the stage? I hope not. You just find your loud voice and keep on going! Or maybe your computer dies in the middle of a presentation…you should know your materials (because you practiced 😉) well enough that you can keep on presenting from memory. Remember, I got a puzzle with hundreds of flat edges…I could’ve boxed it up and said no way, but I didn’t. I worked with what I had and ended up with a beautiful piece of art that I can enjoy every day. When you adapt to the circumstances and situations around you, you too can create something amazing and leave others with a message they can relate to and enjoy.

Communicating can be a bit of a puzzle but it doesn’t have to be. If you have a process that works, stick with it. However, have some flexibility so that when things get changed up and you have way more flat edges in your puzzle than you expected, you can still deliver an effective message with clarity and confidence!

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Ciao for now!