People talk about going backwards when they want to go forwards like it’s a bad thing. Sometimes backward is the only way to go forward. I had to do just that this week. My Iron[wo]man watch was two minutes slow. Since I keep my watch set 15 minutes fast, and the math on that is challenging enough, I didn’t want the pressure of having to subtract 13 minutes when someone asks me the time.
You might think this is no big deal, but the + button for advancing the numbers is non-responsive. Pressing different edges of the button didn’t help. Pressing it with a firm tool didn’t work either.
I contemplated buying a new watch, but though there are a couple of things I don’t like about it, it still works. And it looks nice, when I can keep the strap tucked into the loop.
Two minutes.
I took the watch off for overnight, and by then solution came to me. I ran the minutes back 58. Then the hour was off. So I ran the hour back 23 hours (to allow for the AM/PM to be correct).
In relationships, in negotiations, in building or cleaning or doing almost anything there comes a time to take a fresh look, undo and redo, go back to the basics, and yes, sometimes we even go backwards to move ahead.
Do you have n example in your life?