Time to Look in a New Place
Story #15 of my 5,000-story project
Late one night, a policeman sees a man looking for something under a streetlight. The policeman asks the man what he’s looking for.
“My keys,” he says.
Both of them look under the streetlight together. After a while, the policeman asks the man if he is sure he has lost the keys near the streetlight.
“No, I lost them in the park,” the man replies.
The policeman asks, “Why are you looking for the keys here?”
“This is where the light is,” the man says.
There are two other names for what the man did: the Streetlight effect, or the drunkard’s search principle.
Sometimes we keep searching in the same place because it’s easy. But if we remain in our comfort zone, it’s unlikely for us to make much progress.
If we haven’t made the breakthrough we wanted, it’s time to venture into the unknown. Don’t worry. You don’t have to plunge into complete darkness right away. Take small steps—one at a time. As you move and keep going, the path will reveal itself.
