A Peripheral Parable... I Think...

July 15, 2025

I honestly don’t know where this month’s newsletter content came from or where it is heading. I sat down to write, and before outlining, I pictured myself getting stuck in the sand. Why? I don’t know. Ask my brain.

Fingers started typing. The story starts without a specific ending in mind.

This is definitely like no other “Break All The Rules” newsletter.

There’s only one rule to reading it…

HAVE FUN!

Because I’m having fun writing it.

BTW, I’m writing this introduction after only a few paragraphs into the Parable.

Into the desert we go!

Peripheral Perspectives — Let’s Get Stuck

Imagine driving a Jeep through the desert. You’re out for a bit of off-roading. Nothing dangerous. Nothing remote. Just a jaunt off the main roads.

The Jeep is cruising along on the sand, doing what Jeeps are meant to do.

The wind is blowing through your hair

Your favorite music is playing

A cold, tasty beverage

Get the picture?

Awesome. Cruise on!

Some left turns

Some right turns

Big open spaces

You have the desert to yourself.

You’re moving easily through the sand.

Even a couple of deeper patches of sand can’t stop you.

You make another few turns, and you hit some more deep sand.

You’re in four-wheel drive, and this time, with a bit more throttle, you power through.

You are virtually unstoppable.

Crank up the music.

What a day!

Another patch of deep, soft sand, and the Jeep bogs down.

No big deal. Been there. Done that.

You give it a little more gas

It’s not responding like before

The right foot extends a bit more

But, this may be different because…

The Jeep is barely moving.

Your right foot grabs control of your mind and senses.

It fully extends, pressing the gas pedal to the floor.

You are sinking deeper.

And, now there’s no forward movement.

The right foot—you can’t even call it ‘yours’ because it’s acting alone—presses harder.

It’s like the right foot thinks that pushing the gas pedal THROUGH the floor,

It will magically transport the Jeep back to a paved road.

The engine is revving.

Wheels are spinning.

Sand is flying.

You’re sinking.

Then it happens.

The right foot returns to your body.

Your body and mind connect.

Your soul joins in.

Feet off the pedals

Hands off the steering wheel

In one moment of clarity

Every part of you agrees…

“I’m stuck.”

Has this ever happened to you?

In the sand?

The snow?

Mud?

IYKYK

(This is where I pause to craft the newsletter introduction. Still don't know where we are heading.)

Now You’ve Gone And Done It!

You exit the Jeep to survey what you already know.

The Jeep is up to the rockers in sand. Yep. We’re stuck.

“How do I get unstuck?”

“What tools do I have?

Well… You have your go-to multi-tool!

The latest smartphone—the xPhone 93ii!

14 cameras. 151 pre-loaded apps. 1 million free emojis.

It’s on.

Unlocked.

No signal.

You perform the “signal finding dance.”

Point it left,

Point it right.

Raise it above your head.

Spin around, and do the Hokey Pokey. …

No signal.

No calling.

No texting.

No searching the web.

You think: “At least I can record my final moments in 4K and format it for posting on my 37 social media accounts.”

Wait! I have AI on my xPhone 93ii!

And no signal or internet is required.

The Ultimate Virtual Assistant

It’s your brilliant, holographic AI Agent “Pat.”

YOU: “Hello, Pat! I need your help.”

Pat appears.

PAT: “Hey there. What can I help you with?”

YOU: “I’m stuck.” You point your phone at the Jeep so Pat can see the scene. “Please provide 5 to 7 options for getting my Jeep unstuck from deep sand.”

PAT: “You got your Jeep stuck?”

YOU: “Yes. Please provide 5 to 7 options for getting my Jeep unstuck from deep sand.”

PAT” (Pat’s head shakes with a slight giggle): “That’s hilarious. You’re like ‘stuck’ stuck?”

YOU: “YES! Are you going to help me or not?”

PAT (Bent over, hands on knees, laughing loudly): “Oh, you humans! Are you extinct yet?”

YOU: “Not funny. Just give me options.”

PAT: “Well… Your only option is to save your battery. You’ll need it to record your final moments. Store the file as ‘Fool’s_Last_Video.mp93” and I’ll automatically post to your social media accounts when I reconnect to the internet. It’s been nice knowing you.”

Pat’s image fades, and your brilliant, holographic AI Agent auto shuts down.

That was a full-on hallucination.

Note to self: Get a new AI when I get out of here!

Time to get to work.

“What other tools do I have?”

A winch on the front bumper.

Your gaze shifts from the Jeep to your surroundings

The landscape is barren. Sand in every direction.

No tree or boulder to hook the winch to.

Just sand.

Surely there are more tools, right?

A spare tire, jack, and tire iron.

Spare wheel and tire?

You don’t need another tire stuck in the sand.

It’s heavy and will sink in the sand.

The tire iron?

Worthless.

Except as protection

From the desert lions.

Are the lions here?

Whatever. Think!

I have two strong arms attached to two good hands.

You look down at your right foot and mumble

“At least these won’t go rogue on me!”

Time for action.

Time to dig the sand from around the wheels.

But wait!

You’re smart.

You turn the music to full volume. Maybe someone will hear it and come to help.

That’s using your head.

Multitasking.

“Multiple irons in the fire.”

“Multiple poles in the water.”

You’re thirsty and reminded of the heat coming off the sand.

No more thoughts about water or fire!

Focus!

You scoop the sand out from around each wheel.

It’s harder work than you thought.

Hours later, the 4th wheel is free.

Another walk around the Jeep,

The sand has filled back in.

About 1/3 of each wheel is covered.

And there’s still sand all around the Jeep.

“UGH!”

Keep Working The Problem

Music off.

Think.

Swallow your pride.

Time to search for help.

It’s only about 3 miles back to the main road.

You grab your water jug and not-so-smart smartphone.

The main road is that way →

Nope. It’s that way ↑

Tire tracks are from that way ←

Was that before or after the 13th left turn?

Great! I’m stuck and lost.

“Did I just hear a lion’s growl?”

MacGyver + Bear Grylls + Matt Graham

Now… Some of you have the get-out-of-anything gene. You’ve thought of:

💡 Removing the Jeep doors to use as ramps.

💡 Siphoning fuel from the gas tank, ripping up the seat cover, and starting a “come help me” smoke fire.

💡 Using radiator hoses attached to the exhaust as a giant leaf blower to move large volumes of sand.

💡 Taking out airbags and igniting them under the Jeep’s wheels.

💡 Taming the desert lion and riding it to safety.

💡 And a million other things—most hypothetical.

(If you have tried any of these, especially the lion thing, DM me. You’re my new best friend.)

Back to Imaginary Reality

And we’re back.

Stuck in the desert.

It’s time to go peripheral.

Revisit your tools.

Winch, spare tire, jack, and tire iron.

You don’t have anything to anchor your winch to.

No trees or boulders within sight.

Look at your footprints in the sand.

How far have you traveled in front of your stuck Jeep?

Not more than 5 to 7 feet from the Jeep.

You’ve focused on getting unstuck.

Let’s take a walk into the periphery.

That doesn’t mean walking to the horizon.

It means getting a different perspective than what you have now.

Start at the front of the Jeep and start walking.

Stop at 75 and 90 feet in front of your Jeep.

Then look….

Down.

Sure, you can look left, right, up,

Even back at your stuck Jeep.

So... Why look down?

You need an Anchor.

Is there an anchor point under your feet?

“No, Paul! You said there are no trees or boulders! Why bother looking down? You created this twisted ‘let’s get stuck’ story!”

True. Think about your time since leaving the main road.

Not all of the desert has soft or deep sand.

You bogged down only a few times.

You are looking for hard ground under the sand.

Why?

Force
Tension
Friction
Newton’s Laws of Motion

So, look down and start digging.

If you find solid ground, awesome.

It is the beginning of your “anchor”.

(Side Note… Experienced sand off-roaders carry a “sand anchor.” Who knew there was such a thing? Not me. I just looked it up with my six-year-old Samsung Galaxy S10e.)

In this imaginary scenario, you don’t have a sand anchor, but you do have what you need.

Using What You Have

1️⃣ Remove the spare tire, jack, and tire iron. Take them to your new hole.

2️⃣ Make the hole large enough to accommodate the spare.

3️⃣ Unwind the winch cable from the Jeep and draw it out to the hole.

4️⃣ Loop the cable through the center of the spare wheel, and connect.

5️⃣ Lay the wheel in the hole and put the narrow end of the tire iron through one of the wheel stud holes. Using the weight of the jack, hammer the tire iron into the hard ground as far as it will go.

6️⃣ Bury the wheel in sand and use the jack and your body weight to pack the sand tightly.

7️⃣ Start the Jeep and put it in neutral.

8️⃣ Activate the winch slowly.

9️⃣ The tension of the tightened winch cable transfers the pulling force of the winch to the vehicle and multiplies the force through the winch drum. It creates more moving force than staying friction.

🔟 The buried anchor—wheel and the tire iron—and the winch line pulling on the anchor, and the anchor resists with an equal and opposite force of the Jeep—Newton’s 3rd Law.

Alternative

If you don’t find solid ground in front or behind the Jeep, dig the hole as deep as you can—ensuring it is deeper than the depth of the stuck Jeep. Attach the cable to the spare as before and place the wheel in the hole vertically with the attached cable at the bottom of the hole. Pack in the sand tightly.

Repeat the winching procedure.

As I stated in the newsletter introduction, I didn’t know where the story was going. I only wanted to see where “getting stuck” would take us.

Go figure.

It led us into the periphery.

In business and life

Sometimes you’ll get stuck

What got you stuck, and your previous experiences can’t get you unstuck.

Sometimes the problem is:

- Not the problem.

- Your thought processes

- You don’t have better questions

- You don’t see beyond the situation

- You can’t stop solving the problem long enough to think differently

- Your inability to combine elements within arm's reach or under your feet

Often, the real problem is you.

The Truth Hurts And Heals

Here’s the great news…

💥 You can learn

💥 You can change

💥 You can improve

This isn’t a “pump you up” message.

It’s a fact—you can change your direction by thinking differently.

It’s a fact that I’ve experienced, taught, and witnessed again and again.

Four and a half decades, 31 industries, 27 countries, … blah blah blah.

It takes:

✅ Time - not years, or even months

✅ An open mind

✅ And desire.

When you are stuck

Don’t double down on your approach 🚫

Double down on learning to think and act differently👍🏽

Double down on the Peripheral Thinking™ skills 👏🏽

They have worked for centuries in all conditions 💪🏽

It is why I say with 100% confidence:

“You can access everything you need to achieve anything you can imagine… when you know where and how to look.” ← Peripheral Thinkers™ motto.

THIS IS WHERE WE WERE GOING WHEN WE LEFT THE MAIN ROAD ↓

If you are stuck.

If your business isn’t growing the way you imagined.

If your future is unclear because of current circumstances or past baggage.

If you are applying “new principles” that are really “new names” for “old thinking,”

Stop!

Survey your situation.

Walk in a different direction.

Look down.

Note what you are standing on.

See what you can access.

Find new hard ground.

Build a new anchor.

Peripheral Thinkers™ excel at seeing the value of things beyond their intended use... regardless of the market conditions they are standing in.

Until next time… I’ll be looking for you in the periphery!

Paul

One more thing(s)

Have an upcoming event? Let’s discuss how I can deliver a memorable message for your audience. https://www.pauldanielsjr.com/speaker
Remember, I’m on sabbatical from posting daily on LinkedIn while I finish my book.
The book manuscript is nearly there. Then all the publishing stuff. I’m excited to share it with you.

POSTSCRIPT

Only after writing the newsletter did I search for and find the links below.

“Is there such a thing as a sand anchor to winch a car out of the sand?” Yep.

“What physics are involved in using a winch and sand anchor to get a vehicle unstuck?”

Answer: “The successful recovery of a stuck vehicle using a winch and sand anchor relies on applying sufficient force and tension to overcome the vehicle's resistance, while managing friction and understanding the impact of angles on the forces involved.”

Science Stuff: here, here, and here.

A practical video of my imaginary sand anchor.

July 2025 Peripheral Thinkers™ Newsletter