Our conscious mind detects problems but was never meant to solve them.

I think we can have eureka moments on demand.
You just have to think about this with me.

I have never seen this type of drive to create — after reading Simultaneous Invention: Why You Shouldn’t Wait to Create
It is new, it is fresh, it is because I know if I don’t, someone else would.

A little back story of why I want to talk about my experience looking for a story to write about and why we get ideas at unusual times.

A few weeks ago, I was in school.

I sat at the back of the hall when I started listening to what the lecturer was saying that caught my interest.

I don’t recall exactly what he said but this caught my attention, “bluffing in business isn’t lying, it’s just withholding information.”

Immediately I lifted my head and listened to him teach for an hour. It was a pity to see some students uninterested in that topic. I learned a lot of things I’ll write about in another story.

During that time, I had a problem. To find something to write about. I had been looking for a story.

Before that time, I was actively looking through my ideas (my notebook) on what to write about. I became overwhelmed by the amount of information I had consumed.

Then I just sat, tired and my head facing down, then I heard “bluffing in business isn’t lying, it’s just withholding information.”

Just like that I stopped thinking about the problem I had.
I was engaged in this lecture.
I was distracted.

In my distraction, I had a eureka moment — an aha moment.
To write about bluffing in business.

I was satisfied but later I thought, “why do we get the solutions to problems when we’re not thinking about them?”

Then I began to comb through the internet, gathering all the leaves of information I could find about this type of experience. Finding an answer to a problem when you’re not actively trying to solve it.

I read books, articles and comments people made about this topic. I found:

Our conscious mind detects problems but was never meant to solve them.

When putting effort into solving a problem consciously by gathering information, thinking, conversing with others, experimenting and testing theories, the brain works like dry desert which soaks up rain — causing overwhelm in most cases.

Once you stop thinking about the problem, by doing something else perhaps, the information gets processed and then BAM! — this is called the incubation period.

An idea.
The solution to the problem.

Forcing yourself to think of a solution to a problem is a waste of time.

When you know you need to write,
But you don’t know what to write about,
After all the information you’ve consumed,
You are confused, anxious and overwhelmed.

This is good.
It means you are learning.

But stop!
Give your attention to something else.

Some would think that’s an excuse to do nothing, it is not!

It’s important to stay away from your phone.
It’s one of the downsides of this process.
Sometimes we just get distracted from being distracted.

But this is what I’ve found. I hope you now have a clearer understanding of the why we have ideas at unusual times.

Write down ideas in eureka moments, they don’t come twice.
Once you forget, that might be the end.

As I write this, I’m thinking “You are a designer and you’re talking about writing? Classic!”

Everything I’ve said is applicable to design as well.
As always, see you later.