This well-known meme always makes me smile. But wait! There is more! It contains a marvelous piece of wisdom.
When stuck, simply break down attacking the problem into two steps.
- Step 1. A next trivial step.
- Step 2. Everything else.
Then, repeat.
Stuck “drawing an owl”? Draw two circles. Done. Then, draw two more circles, and then, two more circles, and then… You get the idea.
“A parked car is hard to steer” I heard once. Stuck? I draw two circles, now I am steering, not sticking.
Each one of these below are real examples of me “drawing 2 circles”:
- Write down the problem in a simple sentence.
- Explain the problem to another person.
- Explain the problem aloud to myself on a whiteboard.
- Answer the question: What is different this time?
- Get pen and paper.
- Clean my desk.
- Take two deep breaths.
- Take one deep breath.