In his book A Whack on the Side of the Head, Roger von Oech tells a story about a Native American tribal chief. 
Whenever the tribe was having difficulty finding new game, the chief would take a dried animal skin, crinkle it repeatedly until deep lines appeared, and then mark it with some places already familiar to the hunters. Then he would tell the hunting party that this was an ancient map and that the crinkled lines showed the best hunting trails used by their ancestors. Armed with this new information, the hunting party would set out with confidence and enthusiasm, and surprisingly enough, would always find an abundance of game for the tribe.
The map was nothing but randomly created lines – so why did it unleash new success for the hunters? I think we can see several reasons:
- It broke the rut of sameness
- It encouraged them to look in places nearby, but off the familiar path
- It produced a positive anticipation
- It put the tools for success in their hands – no excuses, no blaming.
- It was presented as a hidden secret
Having trouble finding “game?” Why don’t you get a new map? (At this point in my writing, I actually took a blank piece of paper, crumpled it up, then opened it again. I imagined my house and saw the familiar roads. But then I was amazed at what I began to see.)
What if you just made a new map? Start to see where it could lead you.
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