# Daily Inspiration: “If you can’t find an easy solution to your complex problem, you could always do a U-Haul!”
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“If you can’t find an easy solution to your complex problem, you could always do a U-Haul!” - Futurist Jim Carroll You’ll often become too focused on finding the most obvious solution to a complex problem.  Think differently! Which brings you to my good friend Jeanne-Marie Robillard - @jmrobillard . She's an extraordinary account executive at one of my agents, the National Speakers Bureau in Canada. Last summer, she arrived in Newfoundland, Canada, for a family trip - only to discover there were no rental cars available - it was peak season! They hadn’t booked in advanced, and had assumed that there would be availability. Stymied, she put out a plea on social media to see if anyone had any ideas - smaller rental car companies, an ‘in’ with one of the big car companies, or other ways to get a *car*. The problem? She was focused on the ‘rental car’ concept as the solution.  My suggestion? Don’t think ‘rental car’ - think ‘transport.’  I sent her a message -head over to U-Haul and rent a cube-van! There has to be availability, they’re pretty inexpensive, and it would certainly provide her with something to talk about. It worked - and she was soon motoring around in a nice, big cube van.  Epic! There is a pretty important innovation lesson here, because it was an interesting solution to a challenging problem! That’s often what you need when it comes to your own innovation efforts.  You’ll usually spend your time thinking of the most obvious solutions; the go-to ideas; the usual suspects.  And once you start doing so, you’ve turned off your creativity engine. You’ll be on innovation-autopilot, and will soon become frustrated because of your lack of success in coming up with something different. Do the opposite -seek offbeat solutions; look for the silly ideas, try and reframe the question. Her answer lay in ‘transport,’ not ‘car.’ And as soon as you do that, magic can happen! Make this a regular part of your creative routine. There is a line between crazy and ingenious that you should continually flirt with. Experiment a little! And so from this day forward, when faced with a complex problem - think @uhaul (Note: I have no involvement with the company) 

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Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2019/08/daily-inspiration-if-you-cant-find-an-easy-solution-to-your-complex-problem-you-could-always-do-a-u-haul/