You know when you're trying to recall an actor's name or that great book you want to recommend? It's on the tip of your tongue but just out of reach? After wracking your brains for what seems an age, you give up only to have the name pop up in your mind later on. How did you do that? How come you couldn't remember the name when you were trying so hard?

This isn't confined to recalling names though and if you can recall a time you were trying to think of a work or home solution you will know the feeling of frustration and eventual resignation as you give up in disgust. So what to do? Well, stop thinking about it and the answer will come.

When I was trying to decide in which direction to take my business recently, I suddenly had a vision of online courses while I was putting on my make up. As each idea came to me I quickly jotted it down on a pad, and within 10 minutes, I'd got the outline of a free mini programme, and finished applying my make up too! Before then I'd been wracking my brains trying to come up with some new ideas to no avail.

So, the next time you're looking for a solution, put the problem to the back of your mind and say to yourself you'd like an answer by a given time and see what happens. Sometimes the answers come in unexpected ways, which you may miss at first, but the more you use this method the more success you'll have. After all, somehow the name of that actor always does present itself to you doesn't it? If you don't think of it yourself, someone talks about him on the radio, or you see him in a film clip on TV and say, "That's the actor I was trying to think of the other day, what a coincidence." But was it a coincidence or was it really the power of your subconscious mind?