Ted and Lisa welcome special guest (and Jeopardy contestant-to-be) Troy Steinmetz for a conversation about the wisdom of puzzles. They enter a warm-up game midstream to consider different kinds of puzzles (3:47) before Troy gets the group talking about flow and ideal challenge levels (13:37). Lisa introduces the notion of “futzing about” and puzzling for the puzzle’s sake (20:08) which reminds Ted of Karma Yoga—which then gets the group thinking about fundraising, Burning Man, and sand mandalas (23:40). Troy wonders about the Quantified Self and how we measure the success of different types of mindfulness (31:59) and the trio discusses when it’s right to walk away from a puzzle, “tease the knot,” or wait for the charmed rabbit (36:04). They close the podcast by considering the notion of a center of gravity between creators and what’s created (41:22) and how effort and preparation precede the “gift” of insight or inspiration (46:55).

As always, please send a note, question, or comment if you feel so inspired: [email protected]. Thanks so much for listening—we love you all!

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