Google tells me that the story comes from Ernst Straus, “Memoir,” in A.P. French, ed., Einstein: A Centenary Volume, 1979. The version of the story told here goes as follows:
‘Once I am set on a goal, it becomes difficult to deflect me.’ I think about this story every once in a while, especially when I encounter a roadblock en route to a larger goal. Remembering this story serves as my cue to reconsider the bigger picture — is this the most efficient path to take? Or was my attention focused solely on the first path that I saw, blinding me to better options?We [Einstein and Ernst Straus] had finished the preparation of a paper and were looking for a paper clip. After opening a lot of drawers we finally found one which turned out to be too badly bent for use. So we were looking for a tool to straighten it. Opening a lot more drawers we came upon a whole box of unused paper clips. Einstein immediately started to shape one of them into a tool to straighten the bent one. When asked what he was doing, he said, ‘Once I am set on a goal, it becomes difficult to deflect me.’
When working toward a goal, it's good for us to pause and reconsider if we're focusing on the right things. Are we looking for a usable paper clip? Or are we trying only on bending the first paper clip back into shape?
