|
I have always enjoyed brain teasing games or activities such as crossword puzzles and word searches. Sometimes I want one that makes me think. Sometimes I want one that I don’t have to think. But if you don’t have to think, is it really a brain teaser?
Connect the dots was one of my favorites of these activities. I remember the teacher giving the class a page with dots and numbers on a piece of paper. The task was to start at the number one and connect all the dots until we got to the last numbered dot. Without fail, connecting the dots made some type of figure, structure, and/or picture.
It never failed that my classmates and I would attempt to guess what the picture was before we started and as we worked through the numbered dots. There were times that we guessed right prior to finishing the picture. There were times we didn’t. It all depended on the complexity of the picture.
You know what is missing in “connecting the dots?” Think about it. It is “collecting the dots.” In “connect the dots”, the dots are given to us. The dots are numbered in the correct order to reveal a specific shape or picture. The dots are pre-collected for us.
“Collecting the dots” consists of saturating, incubating, illuminating, and innovating. Saturating is when our mind is first exposed to something. Our mind is saturated in facts, assumptions, insights, and sensory cues. It involves situational awareness. Where we know what is going on around us. Incubating is when we give our mind time to sort out the inputs and begins to recognize patterns. During incubation, our mind connects the dots collected to come up with specific concepts and ideas. This is a time we allow our mind to sort through information and search for patterns. Illuminating is produced in the cacophony of ideas and patterns put together in the incubation period. These are the “ah ha” moments where our mind takes these patterns and ideas and puts them into actionable ideas. Innovation is putting it into action.
Each year, we start the year with an opportunity to collect the dots, so they are connected. The year starts as a blank canvas, waiting for us to collect the dots. So often, we connected the dots from past years that were collected from past experiences and outcomes. We use these dots to determine the outlook of the year ahead of us.
We must not dismiss the connected dots from the past. Instead, the connected dots reveal your journey and God’s handiwork. Keep focused on the context. Stay focused on the situation in front of you. Adapt as it unfolds. The year 2023 is going to be a year of great outcomes.
Make specific time in your daily rhythms to saturate, incubate, illuminate, and innovate.
| 
