Choose a Task You Can Finish

Have an hour? Choose the 100-piece puzzle, not the 1,000.

I was surprised we started anything at all, but my brother-in-law pulled out a puzzle to do while we were waiting for dinner? We were early for dinner and wanted to enjoy a drink and some time in the beautiful entryway of the El Tovar Hotel on the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

It went quickly with many hands and because the end was in sight, it instilled confidence so that you wanted to just get one more piece. Also, the puzzle was easier than the 1,000-piece torture test we had finished a few days earlier. That was a grueling marathon and this was a refreshing sprint.

We were rushing the last pieces as our dinner reservation was ready and there were just a few pieces left. Even the kids–who have not been very interested in our puzzling–got into the game and were happily frantic on the last pieces. Big celebration when we finished and we decided to leave the puzzle there in the lobby for future guests who might enjoy a little relaxing “concentration” before their dinner. Who knows, maybe we’ll come back in some years and find out they have puzzles on every table and it’ll be the standard for all hotels park wide.

Play a game that you know you’ll actually finish. [El Tovar Hotel, Grand Canyon, Arizona, New Year’s Eve]