I've been doing crossword puzzles for several years. Most work days I pick up a copy of the Express - a commuter oriented paper from the Washington Post. At some point during the day I'll do the puzzle - usually finishing - but sometimes bringing it home to finish later.
These puzzles are the right level of difficulty for me. Often I have to work around a word or phrase, but can usually figure them out. I have several different approaches. Sometimes I go through all the horizontal clues, writing down any answers I'm confident of. Then I go back and work through the vertical clues. If needed, I'll go back to the horizontal clues and fill in the last ones. Another approach is to fill in the first answer I know, then build off that word in all directions - seeing, for example, if I can get all the way from the top left corner down to the bottom right before being stumped. Sometimes I don't use any system at all.
A couple of weeks ago, I realized why I like to do the crosswords. In a job that has lots of loose ends and interruptions, projects that can go on for a long time, and depend on the work of other people, it's hard for me to bring anything to completion on any given day. The crossword is something I can spend a little time with, and finish. It's a small accomplishment - trivial really - but it's concrete and definite.
Awareness that I needed a sense of completion and accomplishment that I wasn't finding at work has made me rethink how I approach work. I've focused more on organizing and defining work so that I can complete more things, even if they are just a part of, or a step in, a bigger project.
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