If you have never played the game Sudoku, it is a puzzle that is comprised of nine rows and nine columns. The grid is split into nine even squares that are 3×3. The puzzle will start with squares filled with numbers from one to nine. To complete the puzzle, you must fill each square with a number and the grid so that each row, column, and 3×3 square has one through nine with no repeats on a given row, column, or small square. Typically, like more puzzles, one can select from easy, medium, or hard. It is this puzzle to which I am comparing life.
I often compare life and its choices to very simple things (I see what I wrote, and knowing some of my friends can hear their comments). Life can be so complicated at times, but I like to find ways to simplify it. Perhaps it comes from years of being a trainer for different jobs or being a teacher, but if I can find an easy thing for people to relate a task to – the understanding becomes greater. In the end, I have turned doing this for others internally – I do it for myself quite often. Tonight – I realized that Life is like a Sudoku game; you never know how difficult it will be until you open it and try it.
Most mornings, I am up before the sun, get the coffee perking, and sit at my desk ready for some unknown amount of work. Work consists of a long list of tasks, emails, meetings, and items not on the task list. That is just in the first five minutes. I know that my work life is no different than so many others. Reading posts on social media tells you that every job out there is more stressful than the rest, and people are tired. I agree with each of those posts and get it. Corporate America does have the attitude that you can do the same amount of work or more with fewer people.
The thing is – I thrive on the stress. The more stress there is, the more focused I can become, and I can plow through several items on my to-do list. But it is not about the stressful days for which I write. For me, the most challenging days are the “normal” days. The days when you show up to do your job with a list five miles long of tasks but little outside commotion happening. These are the days I tend to dread. I can look at the list I prepared the night before. I can rearrange the tasks and think through priorities. I can schedule items on the calendar and calculate how long each item should take. And then…I stare at my list, not knowing where to start, which one to check off first, or how to find the on button for my energy. I get stuck on these days and often stare at my monitor, hoping for inspiration.
Over the last couple of years, I have found that I need to try to get my brain awake and functioning before even thinking of opening Outlook. So while taking the first sips of java, I work through Wordle, Connections, the daily crossword, and a game of Sudoku. For Sudoku, I do the daily challenge, so I do not know the level of the board until it appears. While playing this morning, it dawned on me as the dawn started to appear, just how similar solving this puzzle is to figuring out my day and working through the hours of tasks.
This morning, it occurred to me that solving the Sudoku game is similar to getting through the daily grind of work. The challenge is easy sometimes, and many squares are filled in at the start. Other days, the board appears, and you wonder who thought this one could be solved. Both types can be solved in the same manner. I always start by highlighting the nines. I look at the empty boxes for those obvious choices where only a nine can go. Sometimes, I can find options, but many times, there are too many choices for me to take down to a single choice. I also look for where the nines cannot go, and that also helps to whittle down options. Once done with the nines, onto the eights, and so on. While I am focused on a specific number, what I am doing without thought is removing options for the other numbers. If there is a row where a seven could go in three spots, but as I move through the threes and one, I take away options; the next time I am on the seven, the choice is obvious. By completing numbers further down the line, the task is easier the next time I am at the number.
I look at the list of tasks as completing the Sudoku board. Some days, I can fly through the work without giving much thought. Most days, the list is comparable to a medium or hard level. I have learned that much like I start with the nines and move down, I have specific tasks, which are my starters, such as trying to clear out the inbox before even thinking of other tasks. There are days when I can enter all the nines and then there are days when I can only find one spot to fill or none. Most days, I can clear out the emails that came in overnight with quick responses or (I love these) a simple click of the delete button. On other days, the emails are filled with issues that require pulling others together or researching. Those boxes go unfilled to start.
Once the nines, or emails, are done – onto the eights. I know many tasks will be partially completed or even set aside until I have more information and fewer open spaces to fill. They will, in turn, become more manageable as I complete my other tasks.
Several people would question why work must be done like this. Why not just pick up a task and work it through – “research shows that by stopping a task and coming back to it, you need more time to regain focus on the task.” If you are a person who can do one task all the way through without stopping – I applaud you, and I am jealous of you. I am a person whose brain is constantly jumping from task to task, worrying about what needs to get done, needing to keep up with chats, and having a lot of meetings that interrupt those tasks. And let me tell you, when people know you work from home and do not have to move about for meetings, they see no problem in butting meetings one after the other with no mental break time.
For me, and I think people like me, I have found that my Sudoku approach to work is helping me become more productive. I work on a task until I can no longer find squares to put a number. I then set it aside and move on to the following “number.” Sometimes, the next task or tasks three or four spots down the line provide me with the information or insight needed when I return to the first task.
At the end of the Daily Challenge for the Sudoku game, the board presents your time and ranking of those who already played. Some days, I can get done in less than two minutes—other days….. not so good. Some days, I even have to guess at answers and get a 15-second penalty. Some days at work, I make an educated guess that is incorrect, causing me extra time to complete the work, but eventually, I get all the boxes filled in.
So there you have it—for me, Life is like a Sudoku game. You never know what you’re going to get until you see the board. There will come a day when I only have to use the tactics to complete a game. Until that day arrives, I hope this method will allow me to get through my life and know that life is just a game.