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The Top Idea in Your Mind

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#13

Post by photon_off »

I love reading these essays so much. There's something about the tone, perhaps because it's slightly playful and a bit pensive, that causes the curiosity at the core of the writing to become the unstated focal point. And for some reason, I find it more enjoyable to find meaning in things when they aren't explicitly written. Kind of like a special bond you have with someone, even a perfect stranger, when you're the only group of people to really "catch the drift".

I love the process of trying to figure things out that happens in these essays. Really, it's just great. Keep it up pg.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#14

Post by m_myers »

That's funny; I'm almost sure I've read the same basic idea somewhere else within the past year or two, but I can't for the life of me remember where. I thought it was Joel on Software, but a little Googling didn't turn it up. Anyone else?

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#15

Post by kenpratt »

This reminds me of the famous poem "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann. Same sort of philosophy.

http://www.fleurdelis.com/desiderata.htm

"Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit." is a good method of keeping overly dramatic interpersonal interactions from affecting your top idea.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#16

Post by username3 »

m_myers wrote: post #14

That's funny; I'm almost sure I've read the same basic idea somewhere else within the past year or two, but I can't for the life of me remember where. I thought it was Joel on Software, but a little Googling didn't turn it up. Anyone else?

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 yourself is that when you have a real important problem you don't let anything else get the center of your attention - you keep your thoughts on the problem. Keep your subconscious starved so it has to work on your problem, so you can sleep peacefully and get the answer in the morning, free.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#17

Post by da5e »

Wow, this is such a simple, yet powerful, idea. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" ones. Another good time to discover your real top idea is at 3 am when you wake up thinking about it.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#18

Post by dangrossman »

I realized the ability of my unconscious mind to solve hard problems some time around high school. I made good use of it in college, especially in courses involving coming up with algorithms or proofs. I could rarely come up with a good solution consciously, but if I spent 30 minutes thinking about the problem right before bed, the next morning optimal answers would come easily.

I also formed a habit of driving at least an hour away to do regular shopping (groceries and such) on weekends. The long drive on the mostly empty highways let me daydream without distraction, kind of like a long shower. I made a lot of architectural decisions for my web apps while on those drives.

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#19

Post by b_emery »

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'm more researcher than startup-type, but to me they are both about getting the 'preparation meets luck' kind of ideas where you feel like you've got a leg up on the rest of the pack. When that happens, it's all you want to think about - it's fun and exciting and hard work all at the same time. Without the combination of the idea and the preparation you don't get the self-catalyzing reaction to boost you to some new 'ground state'. You're back to watching WWII reruns on the history channel (for example).

Re: The Top Idea in Your Mind

#20

Post by m_myers »

username3 wrote: post #16
m_myers wrote: post #14

That's funny; I'm almost sure I've read the same basic idea somewhere else within the past year or two, but I can't for the life of me remember where. I thought it was Joel on Software, but a little Googling didn't turn it up. Anyone else?

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.
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