The scene in front of me is somewhat chaotic, there are hundreds of small plastic construction bricks strewn all over the floor and my three grandchildren are sitting in a variety of crouched positions,  each eagerly searching for that special piece to add to their current construction.

Today’s offerings included a monster crossed with a dinosaur, a set of teardrops that I mistakenly thought were hearts, a house and still under construction is a human skeleton complete with red heart sitting inside the rib cage. In the past week our grandson produced a set of Starwars inspired tie fighters, Spongebob Square Pants and multiple other amazing robots, buildings and creatures.

Lego has been a part of our household for over thirty years and brought hours of pleasure to child and adult alike, that is of course, apart from the occasional domestic dispute when someone inadvertently steps on a piece that was left behind camouflaged by a floor rug.

Small interlocking bricks of all colours, easily managed by tiny hands, which click together perfectly, the simplicity of design creates magic when combined with imagination and determination.

The journey from the single brick to the final creation is one full of design choices and deviations from the original plan based on trial and error, learnings, personal choice and at times outside collaboration. Very seldom does the design reach perfection, or be fully complete and at some point will require a total rebuild after the finished product has been played with, admired and out lived it’s use.

To put a different slant on the quote from the 1994 movie Forest Gump ‘Mama always said life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you might get’ to me ‘Lego is like a box of life lessons, building better adults and helping them to succeed’.

This industrious redesign and rebuilding of blocks teaches tenacity, creatively, resilience, communication, team work, time management, empathy, passion and a sense of pride and achievement; all amazing skills that we hope our children to have when they become adults.

This year many of us have been forced to look at our lives differently and re-evaluate our priorities as opportunities and career choices may have changed in this COVID environment, faced with this realisation many are remodeling, rebuilding or retraining.

Change takes courage and if you are struggling with the idea of the redesign, be positive and remember the lessons from Lego.

Lego Life Lessons

Imagine big, anything is possible, one brick at a time, it’s ok to get things wrong and try again and whether you choose to follow the step by step instructions or go freelance the overall results are the same, Magic.

Give it a go.