Some problems solve themselves if you give them a week. Some get worse. Learn which is which.

Waiting is a tool, and like any tool it suits some jobs and ruins others. Awkwardness between friends, a mood, a small misunderstanding often dissolve on their own, while anything involving money, deadlines, infection or paperwork grows quietly while you look away. Telling the two apart is a skill you build by noticing what happened last time.

Before leaving something alone, ask whether it has a clock attached. If delay costs money, health, or somebody else’s time, handle it today. If it is a feeling with no deadline, give it a week and see what is left of it.