Trish and I often solve the word jumbles in our local newspaper. Some words that she easily solves are challenging for me and vice versa. It strikes me as a good indicator of how even people with a huge amount in common think differently.

Our vocabularies have more in common than not and perhaps 10 or 20% of our words are different. Even so, words that stump one of us are often obvious to the other. It’s probably driven by what we’ve read, our speaking habits and how we attack problems.

Knowing that we think differently about something as simple as a jumble, imagine what happens when we think about something more complex. It can be like we’re from different planets. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that we are both open-minded and willing to discuss our differences.

How do you interact with people that think differently than you (hint: everyone)?