And he always knew what to do next. The moral: Not every problem needs the same tool. Sort first. Solve second.

From that day on, whenever Leo felt that freeze coming, he whispered to himself:

His presentation crashed. His coffee mug tipped over onto his notes. And his neighbor called, frantic, because her cat was stuck in a vent.

That’s when his mentor, Mira, walked by. She saw the spilled coffee, the frozen screen, and Leo’s panicked face.

Leo didn’t magically get more time. He just stopped treating every problem like an emergency and like a puzzle and like a relationship test — all at once.

Leo was a fixer. If something broke, he fixed it. If someone had a problem, he solved it. But one Tuesday, everything broke at once.

Leo froze. His brain felt like a browser with too many tabs open.