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