Cogito Ergo Sum
I don't make enough time during the day to do nothing but just think. Let me be completely honest. I really mean I make almost no time.
I work in a detached home office so I have no commute or maybe I'd try to steal that time. I work hard and I fill up my day completely. I'm either with my family or I'm doing something "productive" at all times. There really is no other time.
The moments when I am alone with just my brain are usually when I'm doing some task on auto-pilot. But even those times I tend to steal for other purposes. Doing laundry? That sounds like a good time to catchup on podcasts. Exercising? I think I can read at the same time. Time alone with the mind is very rare. It's pretty much limited to the 5 minutes a day in the shower.
What a 5 minutes though! Not a shower goes by where I don't get some great new idea to try, or crack some hard problem that's been bugging me, or break down an amorphous task into an accomplishable plan, or remember something really important that's slipped through the cracks. I REALLY enjoy my think time. The return on time invested is the highest of any part of my day.
I've decided that 5 minutes is just not enough of a good thing. Why? I don't have paper in the shower so sometimes I forget my think time thoughts. On average one day a week goes by without me taking a shower. Shhh... don't tell! And finally, when I leave the shower I usually feel like there is something left in the mental tank, if I only had a little more time.
There are obvious diminishing returns here. 5 hours a day quietly thinking and your friends and loved ones might have good reason to start calling you lazy. Instead, my new goal is a modest 15 minutes. 15 minutes a day alone and quiet with no computer and no iTunes. Just me, some paper, and my thoughts.
Try it with me? All of our thoughts deserve their 15 minutes.
Photo by lightmatter.
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Yay, exactly my thoughts. This is why I do not listen to podcasts while I'm on the train..
Well said.
Also worth noting is that it's OK if you don't actually "figure anything out" during your thinking time. Lots of psychological research (citation needed) points to the fact that your brain needs down-time to put the pieces together or get a new angle on problems. Just because the pieces don't actually come together during that down time doesn't mean nothing is happening. It just might be a long, slow, quiet thing.
15 minutes is about 1% of your day, including sleeping (1.04% if you want to get technical). If you can't spend 1% of your day in thought, what does that say about you?
How about, once a week, try a bath instead!
Loads more thinking time as you lie there.... plus you can take paper & pen.
"Eureka" as they say.
@cephyr Good for you. I'm very guilty of filling up any down time with a book or podcast under the delusion of being productive. I need to internalize that quiet, undirected thought is productive. I do set aside time to work on particular problems where "work" is mostly done by thinking, but that's a bit different than what I'm suggesting here.
@Ian What does it say about you indeed. Here's to 1%! (I haven't done it yet today... but the BubbleTimer activity is sitting there staring at me looking forlorn so I'll do it soon).
@lucyconnuk Good idea, but my bath tub doesn't have a stopper. I'll pick one up next time I'm at the Home Despot.
I'm anxious to hear whether you come up with the same quality of ideas in your dedicated time as you do in the shower: I say that because it seems like it's the act of doing something where you go into autopilot mode that opens up the floodgates of new ideas. I have the same experience as you when showering, or when brushing my teeth, etc. But I don't get the same effect when I set aside time specifically for thinking.
Very good point Tommy. I'm anxious to know the answer to that myself. I have to admit that day 1 was a FAIL as I never really set aside the dedicated 15 minutes. I was more conscious about being thoughtful while doing a fem mundane things. I'll update on whether I experience the same thing as you have.
Thanks,
Sean
I agree with Tommy. At one point in my life, I did some acetylene gas welding. It was simple stuff, but it required intense focus on the manual task of pushing a little puddle of molten steel along a straight line. Once I got the hang of it and it became automatic, the ideas came in waves. I solved old problems and generated new concepts. I think it's better to have a front-mind task so the deep brain isn't distracted by sensory input. Good luck with your think time!