Marinate

Sometimes you just gotta let your brain marinate. You know, like a chicken wing sitting in some teriyaki sauce overnight. You can’t rush that flavor—it’s science or something. But here we are, sitting at our desks, poking at problems like cavemen discovering fire. And the harder we poke, the dumber we feel.

Take this from me: you gotta step away. Give your brain a breather. Your subconscious mind is like that quiet guy in the corner of a party who’s actually a genius but just needs some time to figure out how to solve world hunger using three Doritos and a paperclip. But if you keep yelling, “Figure it out now!” at him, he’s just gonna spill salsa on his shirt and leave.

I had a buddy once who tried fixing his truck for six hours straight. Crawled under it, crawled over it, cussed at it in three different languages—and this guy only knows one language. Finally, he gave up and went fishing. When he came back, he remembered that he’d never put gas in it. Gas! The simplest thing! But if he’d kept at it, he’d probably have tried to rewire the engine with bubblegum.

Your brain works like that too. When you’re stuck, forcing the solution is like trying to squeeze toothpaste out of a capped tube. Pointless, messy, and you’ll just end up with minty hands. Step away. Walk the dog. Stare at a wall. Go outside and realize the neighbor’s cat is probably plotting something sinister. Let the subconscious take over.

The great thing is, your subconscious doesn’t get stage fright. It doesn’t sweat under pressure. It’s back there doing puzzles and connecting dots like some kind of cosmic Bob Ross. All it asks is for a little time and space. It’ll come through for you when you’re not watching. Like a kid who magically cleans his room after you threaten to sell his Xbox.

So here’s the plan: the next time you hit a mental brick wall, don’t keep ramming your head into it. Step away, take a break, and let the quiet genius in the back of your mind do its thing. You’ll solve the problem, and you’ll probably avoid a headache—or at least one caused by thinking too hard. And if nothing else, you might come back with a good story about how you tried meditating but got distracted by a squirrel.