Are you seeing the whole picture?
Draw nine dots on a piece of paper, or touch your finger to the screen and see if you can connect these nine dots with four straight lines without lifting your pen or finger. Take a moment to try this and then scroll down the page.
Don’t give up! It really can be done. Try once more.
Before you continue reading, I’ll show you how it can be done. Start at the first dot and make your first straight line down through dots four and seven and go beyond to where dot ten might be. From that point, draw your second straight line through dots eight and six to another imaginary dot to the right of dot three. From there, the third straight line is made back to dot one through dots three and two. The fourth and final line is made from dot one through five and ending at dot nine.
When most people see this for the first time, they cannot figure out how to connect the dots. When shown, they say they didn’t know you could go “outside the box,” or “outside the lines.” What box? What lines?
Interestingly, when it comes to other aspects of their lives, people often do the same thing … they create boundaries or rules that keep them from accomplishing what they are trying to do. When we’re seeking growth, we need to be open to the possibility that the rues we have adopted about who we are may be different than what is actually true.
How do people see you? How do you see yourself? Back up and take another look at yourself. Are you seeing the whole picture?
