Thursday, August 18, 2011

ROL: Write Lightly and Carry A Big Eraser.

ROL (Return on Life) is a corollary metric to ROI (Return on Investment). ROL suggests small incremental changes that can cause a disproportionately large increase in QOL (quality of life).  This week's ROL comes from the wonderful world of Sudoku.

If your not familiar with Sudoku, you're way ahead. If you've encountered Sudoku you have a great appreciation of the previous sentence. I picked up Sudoku about a 1/2 year ago. Puzzles are suggested to maintain mental acuity. As a definite back nine of lifer, I want to do whatever I can to stay closer to personhood than I get to rutabagahood. Since crosswords and ADHD are mortal enemies (at least for me) Sudoku seemed a logical choice.


Sudoku relies primarily on deductive logic to solve a unique number puzzle. As a beginner, I write potential solutions in open squares or along the margins. As I solve parts of the puzzle I erase options no longer pertinent. Since that's more erasing than a pencil can handle, I also have an extra eraser.  That's my Sudoku kit in the picture. No too long ago, my daughter looked at it and said "Daddy, you have a very big eraser". I said "You're right my dear, I do have a big eraser" and thought "Shouldn't everyone have a big eraser?"

Life affords us all a wide spectrum of plans, choices and decisions. Some decisions turn out to be right immediately and yield the positive results desired. Other choices take time to yield fruit. Some plans turn out to be dead wrong and drain valuable resources until rectified.  It is NOT heroic to forge ahead with original plans, consequences be damned, if those plans are wrong. Listing, evaluating and recalculating options needn't be indecisive. As a matter of fact, having the courage to carry a comprehensive list of alternative options and the fortitude to change course is smart, strong and dare I say it...sexy. Just as in Sudoku, write it lightly and be ready to erase in the name of finding the best solution.

Would you be willing to share a situation where you altered your original plans mid-stream and achieved your desired results based on that change? You might give someone else the insight to do the very same.

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