Are you trying to outrun a problem or break out of a real dilemma? Perhaps you need to better understand and embrace escape rooms.

For our son Eddie’s birthdays, instead of gifts, we always tried to surprise him and his friends with a memorable experience. When Eddie was 16, part of that experience was an “escape room,” where you are locked in a room, alone or with others, with a project to complete or puzzle to solve, and a time limit. The scenarios could involve preventing disasters or attaining amazing rewards. You never really know all the details until you’re locked in, the timer starts, and the game begins.

It’s stressful fun, forcing innovation, creativity, and collaboration. I think part of the reason these are so popular is their resemblance to real life – a series of problems to solve, or circumstances to overcome. Yet the escape room is not happenstance, it’s the box you put yourself in, on purpose, precisely because you don’t yet know how you’re going to get out of it.

Are your current escape rooms intentionally chosen, or thrust upon you? Are they fulfilling, or just frustrating? And if and when you do escape, is there a real reward, or just another, never ending similar scenario? Instead of perpetual frustration, choose the rooms that deliver growth, joy and greater alignment.

You don’t have to finish or deal with everything else before you create an intentional escape room. You see, there are rooms within rooms. In fact, a self-imposed challenge may be the key to help you unlock the larger problem or the greater opportunity. Here are three questions to help you pick the right room:

1. Will it improve your skills and capabilities, even if you don’t perfectly succeed?

2. Are you “locked in” with people you genuinely enjoy AND learn from?

3. Does the potential reward simultaneously excite you AND make you nervous?

If the answer is yes to all three questions, what do you have to lose? Well, you may lose your limitations, excuses, and the familiar security of perpetual struggle. Do you still want those things, or are you ready to escape? Until next week, stay Off Balance On Purpose.