This morning I couldn’t find my glasses1.
It was 5 a.m. and, not wanting to wake my wife, I softly walked around our pitch dark bedroom trying to find those damn things. To help me search the room, I used my phone’s screen on its lowest brightness setting—the flashlight would’ve been too much.
I checked my night stand..
No luck.
I checked under my night stand in case it somehow fell overnight..
No luck.
I checked the bathroom where I had switched to contact lenses the night earlier2..
No dice.
Assuming it wasn’t in the bedroom, I stepped out into the kitchen and checked several other spots while still coming up short. My annoyance quickly turned to anger as I repeatedly checked the same spots over and over again3.
Then, suddenly out of nowhere, some old advice surfaced in my mind:
“When you don’t know what to do, focus on the next thing you can do.”
I didn’t know where my glasses were (and I was half-blind) but I knew I would soon need coffee. “Why don’t I get the coffee started and I’ll come back to this,” I thought to myself.
Once I got my coffee in its perfected brewing state4, I went back to the task of finding my glasses. I turned on my barely lit iPhone screen, (quietly) stepped back into our bedroom, and decided to look in other places..
Is it on our dresser?
Nope.
Is it on her work desk?
Found it.
This phenomenon happens often. Taking a break from my main task/problem often unlocks the solution to said task/problem. Over the years, I’ve done some minor investigation into why this works and the best description I’ve read is the “incubation” period from the 4-step creative process.
Incubation is letting ideas “marinate” in the back of your mind—your subconscious works away at a problem while your conscious focuses elsewhere.
It’s just like when you were told to skip and come back to an “unsolvable” problem on a school test. Focusing on the other questions allowed your subconscious to churn away at that unsolvable problem in the background.
Working on something else allows your brain to think laterally. Your subconscious mind is no longer encumbered by conscious thought patterns, biases, and fixations on incorrect solutions (similar to how I kept checking the same spots over and over again).
So, the next time you’re stuck on a problem or can’t find a way forward, consider not forcing yourself forward through sheer will. Instead, focus on the next thing you can do. Persistence need not be contiguous.
Good Beats
Metallica playing Enter Sandman on the Tushino Airfield in Moscow—a great video to watch while your ideas incubate.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the “For Those About to Rock” festival attracted an estimated crowd of over 1.6 million people.🤘
A 50¢ word (aka words that say a lot with less)
Incubate (verb):
to maintain (something, such as an embryo or a chemically active system) under conditions favorable for hatching, development, or reaction
Perhaps the favorable conditions for solving your problems might actually be the opposite of hard work and continuous endurance.
For Your Thoughts
Why is it I always get my best ideas while shaving?
—Albert Einstein
Yours,
-Rahul
P.S. a reminder you can reply directly to oldmanrahul@substack.com, or you can tweet me @oldmanrahul about this edition. Thanks for reading and supporting my writing :)
I have hit peak “old man” mode.
I go for a swim on Thursday nights. It’s my new cardio workout and I love it. Starting this month, I’m going to slow down on the weight training and switch to more cardio-focused exercises. Swimming’s a key piece in that plan.
I’m sure the weather also has something to do with my mood. January’s been a rough month for sunshine.
I have a whole coffee routine. I’ll save it for a future post.