
for the last couple of days I have been doing hard physical work
detailing my boat which involves cleaning, scrubbing and waxing
the sort of movements that leave you aching at the end of the day
listening to complaints from muscles that are infrequently taxed
despite the fatigue it is rewarding in many ways
firstly you must plan the sequence of events and gather materials
if the job runs smoothly you get satisfaction from good planning
then there is the pleasure of seeing the fruits of your labor
stepping back every hour or so to admire the transformation
but there is one other benefit from doing hard physical work
for sure you must keep your mind on the job to stay safe
however your brain is capable of doing that with minimal effort
leaving a large part of your subconscious mind free
while you totally focused on polishing and doing good job safely
your subconscious mind is having a field day
he sits there looking through your eyes
noting that you will be occupied for many hours
giving him the opportunity to flip through all your worries and concerns
he calls on other parts of your brain to join him in break out sessions
they work flat out brainstorming ideas and ranking solutions
they test out a shortlist and pick out the winner
all this is going on while you are busy with manual tasks
at the end of the day I stopped to admire my work
I took a long hot shower and started thinking about a problem
it was a problem I have been wrestling with for a very long time
then the solution just popped into my head
of course I claimed credit for having a brilliant idea
but the reality is that my subconscious fixed it
he slipped it under the door to my conscious mind
then he chuckled listening to me broadcasting my solution
so the moral of this story is simple
if you are wrestling to find a solution to a big problem
stop worrying and find a big manual task to keep you busy
let your subconscious figure it out
but you can still take all the credit
and your boat will be super shiny too