Getting stuck is a necessary precondition for progress.
One of my favourite books is Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.”
For an engineer, the test of something is “does it work?”
And an essential part of making something work is first getting stuck.
I’m reminded of Pirsig’s words every time I come across a problematic screw or bolt.
Nothing stops you in your tracks more effectively than being unable to get at the thing you want to fix.
Our christmas lights broke recently. The transformer that powers them seems to come in a solid block. There appears to be no way to get into it to repair it.
That sort of block in everyday organisational life can paralyse people. We just can’t get things done becuse of the other things that are in the way.
One way to try and solve such problems is to start writing things down.
This rather simple activity is at the heart of the research I’m writing up for my PhD – how listening to people and taking notes can help us understand situations and come up with plans of action to improve them.
It’s essentially the scientific method.
If you’re stuck – if something isn’t working, if a tool you’ve bought or a process you’ve implemented isn’t working the way you hoped, it’s easy to get frustrated and discouraged.
But really, it’s a learning opportunity. Getting stuck shows you there’s a problem. Working on getting unstuck helps you come up with a solution.
This is the way we’ve built every service line that’s added value over the last 20 years.
Handcrafted insight 