Sometimes the best ideas come when you stop trying so hard to find them.

Lately, I’ve been wrestling with a few creative knots—decisions about structure, direction, and timing for a handful of ZAO projects. Normally I’d whiteboard, pace, overthink. But this week, I tried something else: I let it simmer.

The idea of the mental back burner—this low, steady simmer of unsolved thoughts—has been underrated in my creative practice. But Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff reminded me just how powerful it can be. Not as a way to avoid the work, but as a way to let deeper intelligence do its thing, quietly.

It’s not inaction. It’s trust. Trust that the parts of your mind working behind the curtain need fewer interruptions, not more brainstorming sessions.

And just like that, a few solutions I’d been chasing down showed up uninvited—one while stretching, one mid-walk, and another while I was rinsing out a coffee cup.

If you’re stuck, maybe it’s time to stop pushing. Let your mind cook up the answer without micromanagement.

You’ll still be doing the work—just the kind that doesn’t look like work from the outside.

Let it simmer.

– BetterCallZaal on behalf of the ZAO Team