Tackling Problems After Sleeping on Them

Tuesday afternoon I started working on my daughter's Jeep Cherokee to replace the thermostat. We meant to start in the evening but I had some time during the day and so we could begin the work earlier than expected. I'm glad we did as I broke a part and had to make a run to the dealership to get a new one. Had we started in the evening, the parts department would have been closed and we would have had to wait until morning to finish the work. It turns out we did anyways.

At around 9pm that evening we found ourselves still trying to remove a bolt from the thermostat housing buried under a mass of other engine parts. My daughter could feel the bolt with her fingers enough to guide the 10mm socket to the head of the bolt. We loosened it only to have the socket slide off the bolt. It eventually got to the point where we couldn't get it back on. It would have helped if I could feel the bolt but no matter what I tried, I could never get a hand close enough. We decided to call it a night and pick up the next morning.

I've always been told that we do our best work in the morning when our minds are fresh. That is why office productivity experts will tell you to avoid e-mail when you first arrive in the office and to tackle any problems you are working to overcome. It is great advice and it proved true while working on my daughter's car. Amazingly I shoved my hands down into the bowels of the engine and could feel the bolt head with not only one hand but both at the same time. We maneuvered the socket with its attachment of extenders and u-joints and managed to get the stubborn bolt out. It then only took an hour or two to replace the thermostat and get the car back together.

Lately I have been going to bed 30 minutes earlier than usual which allows me to wake up that much speedier in the morning. I am using that time to tackle problems and get the most important tasks of the day completed. While I don't recommend going to bed thinking about a problem because you won't sleep very well, working on it in the morning may be the solution you are looking for.