Let Your Mind Run
Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller
One evening I ( Michael ) was working on a writing project , and the words were not coming easily . I ’ d written several drafts , yet nothing seemed right . It just wouldn ’ t come together . The achiever in me did not want to admit defeat , so I gamely began another draft sometime around eleven o ’ clock .
Sensing my anxiety , my wife , Gail , asked what I was working on . “ It ’ s a presentation for tomorrow ’ s meeting . I can ’ t seem to get a handle on it , but I ’ ve got to deliver it at 10:00 a . m .”
“ Michael ,” she said kindly but firmly , “ just go to bed . It will all work out in the morning .” I doubted that , but I also sensed there would be no more progress that night . I closed my computer and hit the sack . 30
Sure enough , at six o ’ clock the next morning I opened my laptop and discovered that Gail had been right . The ideas began to flow . I banged out the rest of my presentation in about twenty minutes .
That phenomenon is not uncommon . You ’ ve probably experienced something like it yourself . Imaginative thinking is a painstakingly slow process , and very frustrating . Sometimes it seems that the more we focus on a problem , the harder it is to find a solution . Yet when we take a walk , get a bite to eat , or go to sleep , we find that the elusive answers are right there waiting for us .
Why does that happen so often ? And how can we make that process more predictable ?