The Top Idea in Your Mind • Hacker News Board

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#61

Post by jcl » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:08 PM UTC

m_myers wrote: post #20

username3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.paulgraham.com/hamming.html If you are deeply immersed and committed to a topic, day after day after day, your subconscious has nothing to do but work on your problem. And so you wake up one morning, or on some afternoon, and there's the answer. For those who don't get committed to their current problem, the subconscious goofs off on other things and doesn't produce the big result. So the way to manage you…

Could be, but I'm remembering the specific example of a programmer's mind in the shower.

You might be thinking of an article that was on HN several months ago -- "The Benefit Of Being Naked":

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1244308

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#62

Post by mortenjorck » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:09 PM UTC

quickpost wrote: post #22

michael_nielsen wrote: post #4

A very closely related idea is that most people have a "ground state": an activity that they naturally gravitate toward when nothing else intervenes. For many people, their ground state is shopping, or talking with friends, or watching tv. Nothing wrong with any of these. For some people, their ground state is aimless coding, or writing, or drifting around some community (e.g., the community of actors, or musicians,…

I like your idea... it makes me wonder if it's possible to change your own "ground state". It certainly seems like it would be an awesome lifehack if you could change it over time to suit your objectives.

My ground state appears to have consisted for some time of sitting down and reading discussion boards. Somehow, over the last month, I seem to have replaced it with instead working on my music project. It wasn't really a conscious decision, but I found I started to engage the same pattern of either completing or losing initiative in whatever I was doing, pacing aimlessly for a brief period, then almost automatically starting up my recording software instead of a web browser.

Maybe it was just as simple as finding inspiration. I've become slightly obsessed with a couple of albums recently, and have been composing more in the past few weeks than I did in the last six months.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#63

Post by eelco » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:11 PM UTC

jazzychad wrote: post #42

I've called this type of thinking "subconscious thought" for years (thought "ambient thought" has a nice ring to it). This is exactly why I always have at least two current projects to work on. When I get stuck on some problem in one project and cannot solve it in a reasonable amount of time (depends on the project, could be 5 minutes, could be a day), I will force myself to stop working on it and do a full context s…

Same here. I like having multiple projects active at the same time, mostly because of the 'switch when stuck' possibility, but also just to give my brain some time _not_ to think about the project. I think I'll go crazy if I had just a single top idea.

On the other hand, when inspired, working for a longer stretch (couple of weeks) on one single thing also works really well for me.

Ah, well, I guess it is a matter of balance (like most things in live :)

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#64

Post by scottyallen » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:12 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #27

hugh3 wrote: post #25

The effectiveness of thinking in the shower is why I hate shower curtains. If you have a proper transparent glass shower screen instead, you can write and draw on it as it steams up. When I get my own place, this will be my first renovation: the ultimate thinking shower.

After one too many great ideas fogged over, I've decided that there's a product idea in semi-waterproof "dry" erase markers for shower doors. I'd buy a dozen.

They make bathtub crayons, which are basically what you're describing. It washes off with water and a little scrubbing. Look for them online or in a toy store.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#65

Post by edash » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:16 PM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #27

hugh3 wrote: post #25

The effectiveness of thinking in the shower is why I hate shower curtains. If you have a proper transparent glass shower screen instead, you can write and draw on it as it steams up. When I get my own place, this will be my first renovation: the ultimate thinking shower.

After one too many great ideas fogged over, I've decided that there's a product idea in semi-waterproof "dry" erase markers for shower doors. I'd buy a dozen.

Tub crayons: http://www.amazon.com/Crayola-Bathtub-Crayons/dp/B00124WW5Y

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#66

Post by pg » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:17 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #45

I suspect that one of the major reasons why big companies are incapable of innovating is that the top idea on most employees minds' is "What is my boss thinking about me?" Followed closely by "What are my coworkers thinking about me?" Social approval is a powerful motivator, particularly when that social approval is essential for your continued livelihood. Only the most self-confident (or delusional ;-)) people can c…

Actually there was a paragraph about this in the essay that I cut:

    The Nile Perch quality of disputes may help explain why large
    organizations are so unproductive.  The size of large organizations
    insulates them from the forces that keep smaller ones in line.
    Questions tend to be decided instead by political battles, and such
    disputes have a terrible cost because they push other ideas out of
    all the participants' heads.  Politics is like an infectious disease,
    because political schemers suck up not just their own attention,
    but also that of all the people in their way, who might otherwise
    have been thinking about other things.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#67

Post by edash » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:23 PM UTC

ddewey wrote: post #7

PG talks about the problem of having a top idea that he didn't want, something practical like making money or impractical like disputes, stealing his ambient-thought time. I have the opposite problem: practical things that need some ambient thought to really get right (day-to-day work, money stuff) fall by the wayside, while things that I care about or find more interesting (like programming projects or relationships…

The issue of day-to-day work falling by the wayside was addressed in pg's essay on "Good and Bad Procrastination"

http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#68

Post by TotlolRon » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:32 PM UTC

Brilliant observations weakened by a cultural biased conclusion.

> Turning the other cheek turns out to have selfish advantages.

It is only true if someones self is defined by the culture of turning the other cheek. There are other ways to define self and solve a dispute. For example:

And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!"

That's also a valid selfish conclusion.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#69

Post by hugh3 » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:34 PM UTC

istari wrote: post #44

noonespecial wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After one too many great ideas fogged over, I've decided that there's a product idea in semi-waterproof "dry" erase markers for shower doors. I'd buy a dozen.

A random Calvin and Hobbes comic strip popped into my mind: Calvin bugs his mom about money Calvin's mom is exasperated Calvin asks his mom for soap. "Yes, have all the soap you want" Calvin sitting before his parents' car, grinning, with "4 SALE, CHEEP" written across the windshield Maybe you should buy some soap?

Soap crayons might be a good idea.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#70

Post by cabalamat » Wed, Jul 21, 2010, 10:43 PM UTC

TotlolRon wrote: post #68

Brilliant observations weakened by a cultural biased conclusion. > Turning the other cheek turns out to have selfish advantages. It is only true if someones self is defined by the culture of turning the other cheek. There are other ways to define self and solve a dispute. For example: And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" That's also a valid selfish conclusion.

> It is only true if someones self is defined by the culture of turning the other cheek.

Not true. You evidently didn't understand the essay, which makes it clear that the advantage of turning the other cheek is it frees your mind to think about productive things rather than unproductive ones.