What was your resolution in 2025? One I’m taking on, and I’d encourage you to consider, too, is to skill up someone else in some way. Friend, family member, total stranger… It’s a tremendously worthwhile challenge to encourage someone else to learn a new skill or approach.
I’m trying something totally different this year to help grow lateral thinking capabilities. I’m dropping off puzzles and mental challenges at free libraries. In many ways, it’s like casting a seed into a field I’m never going to visit again. I hope something sprouts, but I’ll never really know.
Why do I care about this? Well, for one, I’m hopeful that this will help spark even an ounce of extra creativity that will send us to Mars and beyond. I’d like to think that anyone visiting a free library has at least some interest in learning or trying something new, and a fun puzzle game could be the nudge it takes a kid to pursue a career in the sciences.
There are plenty of charities encouraging children to develop reading habits – I’ve volunteered a few times with Bernie’s Book Bank which does a lot of good work in this space. I’m on board with Bernie’s goal, but I hope my extra wrinkle helps encourage at least one creative thinker.
For my own part, Maniac Mansion and Hugo’s Whodunit, two humorous puzzle-based computer games, were my biggest influences as a child that got me hooked on puzzles and lateral thinking. There are so many good options out there now, way more than when I was young – most bookstores and game stores have dedicated sections for puzzle content.
It’s great to be starting a new year with a sense of optimism about what people are capable of accomplishing. Growing up in a world where going to the moon is old news, it’s easy to lose sight of how much we can accomplish with a good attitude and a little outside-the-box thinking. Let’s do amazing things because we can.
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