It works, but you’re gonna look silly doing it

Friday I sent you a fun puzzle to consider. It was an encoded message that began:

Toothy purse in respond civil force ending theme honey:

 

Some of you replied with the correct answer:

To the person responsible for sending the money:

 

Not sure how to solve it? Iain wrote to me about his technique:

”They key is to speak it out loud (or imagining it being said) with an American accent.”

 

Try it now – say the first sentence out loud a few times.

Listen closely and you may hear yourself saying it, even though you didn’t realize it.

 

There are many possible lessons in this. Some are:

Lessons about communicating effectively.

Lessons about necessary things which make us feel silly.

Lessons about what you’re saying, even though you didn’t realize it.

Other lessons which I’ve not realized.

 

Possibility to reality

Most of my potential lessons fail to turn into actual lessons.

So I’ve found that asking myself three questions help me capture more of them.

1. How does this remind me of my work life?

2. Can I see an underlying principle here?

3. What small experiment might help me understand it better?

 

Which lesson would you like to take away from this?

 

And, if you choose, tell me too. I’d love to hear. 🙂

Best,
Marcus