>I have found so many examples in my own life how something I thought was a dead-end turns into a delightful new path. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now.

It's so hard to break the pattern of seeing something at face value and thinking that is the end of it. I think the only antidote is to [embrace uncertainty](http://bigthink.com/videos/annie-duke-make-smarter-decisions-by-embracing-uncertainty) and give air time to those less than likely possibilities, noticing when your intuition tells you there's more than meets the eye here.

>My friend and I actually did that paperclip trade-up once. In a few hours we had a riding lawn mower!

Wow that's amazing!!! The crazy thing is that even with hearing these stories I still think "if I did it I'd probably get nothing worthwhile." I must really be stuck on the idea that a paerclip is worth a paperclip, or that negotiating trades is hard. Interesting... I'll have to reflect more on this.