What I like about the number strategy game, Sudoku, is that there is only one solution - no guesswork is involved. Inserting the numbers 1-9 correctly, not only in each squared grid, but also to read horizontally and vertically, completes the puzzle.

Deducing where the missing number definitely doesn't go is as important as knowing exactly where it does go! So placement is based on what it can't be, as often as what it should be. A kinda yin yang thing, I suppose.

In art, when attempting to draw an accurate account of what you are looking at, similar deliberations are required. eg if you are drawing a still life with, say, a bottle and an apple, it's as important to draw the objects with an accurate line, as it is to be mindful of the shape of empty space between the objects. Taking into account this negative space is as crucial.

So too with decision making. When, what you want, is the intended result, often eliminating what you definitely don't want, helps you arrive at your conclusion. Or, put another way, knowing what you want, can often be fine-tuned by immediately dismissing things you definitely don't want.

So sometimes it's easier to arrive at a decision by looking at the negative space first (what you don't want).

Doing Sudoku, I think, puts my brain into this decision-honing pattern. But despite all this knowledge and pondering, I sometimes find it so hard to make a decision. Aaargh! My brain hurts bigtime!

However, I take solice in this saying: Good decisions come from experience and experience comes from bad decisions. Is that a WIN WIN then?

: )