The more time you invest at the beginning of the problem-solving process, the less effort it will take to discover a truly breakthrough solution.

Solving complex problems is much easier when you:

• Let go of the need to immediately have the right answers, and instead focus on asking good questions.
• Create the time and space required to allow your best ideas to arise naturally.
• Lean into your curiosity and slow down long enough to reframe the problem and explore it from multiple angles.

Once you’ve put the work in up front, breakthrough ideas and solutions tend to happen without much effort.

You start by priming the creative pump, then getting out of the way so that your unconscious can do its job—processing information in the background and connecting the dots in new ways—all without any conscious effort on your part.

Think about all the times you’ve struggled to solve a problem, only to suddenly get hit with that “aha!” moment when you least expect it. That flash of insight when the right solution becomes obvious.

No effort, struggle, or stress. Just pure inspiration.

What will you do today to start allowing your unconscious to do more of the heavy lifting?

Will you carve out time and space to explore each challenge more deeply?