So there I found myself. Nowhere near any real food but with yogurt in hand. I had planned it as a mid morning snack - always proper after early morning exercise with its protein and all. I had planned to eat it, I just (apparently) did not plan how to eat it.

What is it with spoons? There is ALWAYS a spoon here where I am but not today. Why not today? I need the spoon today not yesterday when I remember there being plenty. But there was a fork. So I used it thanking myself for not planning soup.

The yogurt was good and I was able to get most of it creatively turning the instrument around scoring the bottom blobs with the end of the handle. And I did all of this while maintaining a fairly healthy ego. Not a bad snack moment after all.

Here’s what I learned in that yogurt moment. We all have our bucket of tools that we draw upon to get us through whatever. If you have a little time under your belt most of these tools are reflexive - yogurt - grab a spoon. You don’t go through a checklist or call your lifeline. You just grab a spoon. We do it all the time. “Oh here’s a problem but I know how to handle that. I just do x y z”.

But what happens when we are confronted with a seemingly common problem and the tool isn’t there? Or a variation on the problem theme and a quick glance later it seems the tool might not fit? A little panic - a little freaking out. Or we don’t engage at all (always a great choice that never has any back-end consequence).

We think because we don’t have access to the tool we always use to solve ‘this’ we can’t or at the very least we must invent something or go learn a new way of doing whatever. And that ain’t always the case. What tool do you already have that is in the same category of what you don’t have?

A fork is in the same category as a spoon. They are both used to facilitate the courteous path of plate to mouth. (If you said they are both used ‘to eat’ you would kinda be wrong). You can eat with your hands which is yet another tool not normally included in the subject category. Unless of course you have the pleasure of indulging in a traditional Indonesian meal which is consumed utensil-less. So even in some places things not considered here are there in their category list. It is always helpful to remember that your list is not the only list.

So what else do you have? What will work here if I just take a moment to consider the options. Not every category item is useful in every situation but take a glance at the drawer and look.

Jim Reece
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimreece
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