Overcoming Limits and Finding Possibilities

Do you like building with LEGO blocks, even as an adult?

The biggest takeaway from playing with LEGO on our summer vacation is that anything is possible.

When our family traveled to Denmark, we headed to the headquarters of the Lego Group in Billund. We spent the day there at LEGO House (a/k/a “Home of the Brick™”) - where you can build with over 25 million of the famous plastic construction blocks, see elaborate creations by LEGO engineers as well as fan enthusiasts, and learn about the history of the company.

You also get a souvenir of your trip - a package of six red, 2x4 blocks that by themselves seem unremarkable. But, they are in fact a reminder of almost endless possibilities. A study of LEGO done by a Danish mathematics professor, Soren Eilers, calculated that you can use just those six small blocks to build close to 1 billion different combinations. Your package is assigned a number for your combination - mine was 366,535,987 out of 915,103,987.

At the current rate at which people visit LEGO House, it is estimated it will take 3,000 years to assign all of the combinations.

Why does LEGO share this demonstration of what you can do with just a few basic elements? To show that the only limit to what you can create is your own imagination. And also that, as Einstein concluded: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

What we know is vital to how we live and work. But imagination, and a few LEGO bricks can help us to also embrace endless possibilities.

When you think you know the limits of your knowledge, and the options available to you, take a few minutes to consider what else might be possible.

Embrace your imagination and keep building!