It seems Jerry was driving home from work one afternoon when he got a flat tire. He happened to pull over in front of the city's largest mental institution. Jerry noticed one of the patients watching him from behind the fence as he grabbed the jack out of his trunk.

One by one, Jerry loosened each of the four lug nuts on the wheel and placed them inside the hubcap he had put on the ground. Off came the flat tire and on went the spare. But as he turned to grab the lug nuts, he kicked the hubcap and caused them all to roll into a sewer opening a few feet away.

Jerry jumped up and screamed: "Oh No! Now what am I gonna do. I'm done for. There's no way I can go anywhere now!"

A voice came from behind the mental institution fence. "You still have four lug nuts on each of the other three wheels. Why not take one nut off of each one and put those three on the tire you're changing. That should at least get you to a gas station or auto parts store, where you can get more lug nuts."

Jerry was relieved and impressed. "Wow," he said, "that's amazing. How did you think of that?"

The patient replied: "I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid."

Think about this story the next time you're faced with a challenge that seems insurmountable. Or the next time you experience writer's block or another type of creative stall. Don't focus on the problem area only. Ask yourself, "What opportunities to remedy this situation are right here in front of me?"