My colleague asked me a while ago “What is the wildest activity you’ve ever done with people?”

It’s hard to choose, we’ve had quite a few. Maybe @Milan Holub could remind me 🙂 However, the mousetrap exercise would definitely be in the top 10.

It’s a beautiful (and honestly, a bit crazy) activity where participants get to experience – not just as a philosophical concept, but hands-on – that the only limits to what’s possible are in our own minds.

You might be wondering how we did it. So here it is. Feel free to try 👍

Participants: Divided into groups of 3-5 people.

Material: A box of mousetraps for each group and a flat table.

Task: Build the tallest tower possible within a time limit using set mouse traps.

Yes, you read that correctly. Set mouse traps. It seems risky, it’s certainly uncomfortable, and kind of nonsensical. As well as so many new tasks or projects may seem to be.

1st round: Before starting, each team estimates and writes down how many levels they think they’ll stack. On average, their estimate is around 4.

Teams start building.

We review the results. They’ve built approximately the number they estimated.

We ask: “Do you think it’s possible to build more levels?” Most answers range from “no”, to “I don’t know” / “maybe”.

We show them a video. Same conditions, same material, two women (insurance counter clerks) – building successfully 27 levels.

IT IS POSSIBLE. Ready for a challenge? Let’s try it again.

Off we go.

2nd round: Same task. Totally different outcomes. On average, 3-4 times better.

In the follow-up discussion, we explore the question:
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF WE BELIEVED THINGS ARE POSSIBLE?
How would things change for us?

What are your thoughts? Craziest activities? 😊