The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

December 23Redeem Some Portion

I do not know what to say of myself. I sit before my green desk, in the chamber at the head of the stairs, and attend to my thinking, sometimes more, sometimes less distinctly. I am not unwilling to think great thoughts if there are any in the wind, but what they are I am not sure. They suffice to keep me awake while the day lasts, at any rate. Perhaps they will redeem some portion of the night ere long.

Henry David Thoreau—Familiar Letters (1865)

Have you ever written something and upon reading it through, thought, “It's okay, I don't know, maybe it will work.” Something like that anyway.

But then you put it aside because there is always more work to do. And then you read it the next day and think, “This is crap, or this is brilliant, particularly if I change this one little thing.”

It's the way of genius, of creativity; we don't sit at our green desk and attend to our thinking like there's an on or off switch.

Often the best way to improve anything, particularly our thinking, is to go to bed and see it again in new light. Or take it with you on a jog and see how it works itself out in your mind.

Or, and this is the worst, do you get your best ideas in the middle of the night?

So, here's what science says: we can't be creative whenever we want because we're full of fear most of the time and our brain revolts. That could be sort of paraphrasing the research, but the fight-or-flight mechanism triggered by the slightest bit of fatigue or stress ...