The subconscious is a powerful tool if used correctly.

It goes to work on items that have been rattling your brain for hours, even days, then gives you a solution. If we’re not sure how to use it properly, that solution usually comes at the most inconvenient times.

This is why you wake up at 2am and remember a person’s name, why a good idea hits you while in the bathroom, driving on the highway, or a solution to a problem comes in the middle of a gathering you can’t excuse yourself from.

The amazing thing is the subconscious works because you’re getting out of your own way. When you allow it to do its work, there’s no further thinking needed on your part.

Here’s a strategy I’ve used to help utilize it in my favour:

Start something, (like the first few words), then walk away. 

I allow it to sit while I do something else that doesn’t require much thinking. Make a cup of tea, grab a snack… nothing more than five minutes.

Then I come back and let the work happen on its own. 

It’s an amazingly useful technique.