It’s Saturday, late morning.

Lauren and I are on the sofa with a cup of tea and a hob-nob, about to partake in the most rock 'n' roll part of our weekend routine:

The Financial Times Weekend Magazine Crossword.

I read out a clue:

“Southern Spanish resort.  8 letters.  Could be Benidorm?”

“Could be Marbella too” Lauren chirps back.

We leave that clue and head to the next one.

“Natural fertiliser, 6 letters”.

Lauren perks up:  “That’s got to be manure”.

She grabs the pen, pops the letters into the grid and on we go.

Once we’ve finished our cups of tea, we come up for air.

We’ve completed two-thirds of the crossword but the rest is proving tricky.  So we put the crossword down and carry on with our day.  

Later that evening, I spot the crossword lying on the coffee table.

“Let’s see if we can get those last clues.  Here’s one: Feud, 8 letters”.

“Vendetta” says Lauren.

“Nice.  Here’s another:  Metal fastener, 5 letters”.

“Rivet?” asks Lauren.

“That’s it!”

And on we go.

These clues had been tough nuts to crack.  But now, a few hours later, we’re sweeping through them.

This “crossword clue effect” happens most weekends.  Taking time away from the clues has become an almost guaranteed way to find the answers.

It’s not just crosswords where I’ve noticed this effect.  

There are often times in the office where a tricky email rolls into my inbox at 4pm and my reaction is "how on earth am I going to deal with this?".  And yet when I fire up my laptop at 9am the next morning and read the same email, the next step is crystal clear.

To my mind, this “crossword clue effect” starts to cast doubt on the idea that there’s always something for us to do to find solutions to our problems.  That we need to think long and hard, then think even longer and even harder when the answers don’t come, and then throw some worry & stress into the mix for good measure to see if this will help.

But I think problem solving could work a bit like the blood pumping round our bodies.

It's taken care of for us, as part of the way we're designed.  It's not a task we need to take on ourselves.

As counterintuitive as it seems, what if the key to finding answers isn’t by thinking more about our problems, but less?  

And trusting that the answers will come when we need them?

I’ll leave that with you to ponder.

That’s all for today.

- Tom