No No no, this is not a naughty post.
The following situation that happened to me last night is dire.
It’s serious because I lost something while lying in bed around midnight.
No, I did not lose my mojo or even my virginity (I’m still working on that).
I lost two GREAT ideas.
Two bangers of ideas that I had.
I have these ideas when I’m alone in bed and my wife’s sleeping.
It’s like this Goldilocks hour, just around midnight.
It’s when all stars align, and the universe grants me some free-thinking points.
No, but seriously, I think the slowing of time, no inputs and a silent and dark environment trigger my brain to come up with, at least, strong creative ideas.
Typically, these are ideas I want to write about or meditate on.
It could be a concept, a quote I heard that day, or some thought sparked by a guest on a podcast or YouTube video. Typically, it’s an idea that excites me.
But why did I lose these two ideas, you might ask.
How can I lose an idea at all?
Well, it’s pretty simple.
You lose a good idea by thinking: I will surely remember that in the morning.
But nope, you never do.
I have not yet met a person who does remember his light bulb ideas, which he or she had right before falling asleep.
Basically, you’ll lose it when you don’t write it down on the spot.
You could even say that an idea not written down is no more than a fart in the wind.
I knew very well that I would never remember such an idea, but I also knew that once I started taking my phone out to collect those ideas, the ideas and brain vomit would keep coming.
And that’s the two-sided blade situation of this whole debacle.
Once I start letting those Ideas come and jotting them down on my phone, I can’t stop it.
It’s like a floodgate gets opened.
I get increasingly excited, and it’s almost like I’m having a mini manic episode.
I think it’s like a signal to my brain. Like, hey brain, this is a good idea, therefore I’m writing it down, and my brain thinks, oh he must really like this idea, let me show him what I got, “now starts spraying ideas”.
With every minute passing, the quality of the ideas goes down, and then I start going in loops. This can take hours, and therefore I make the dumb decision not to jot it down because I want to fall asleep.
So the question remains:
“What is wisest to do?”
Is sleep the bigger priority, or is creativity the bigger priority?
It’s not the case that I have these goldilock creative hours every night. Sometimes I don’t have them for months.
Anyway, next time, I promise you now, I will start writing new ideas down on a piece of paper beside my bed because maybe it’s just the light of the phone that’s giving my circadian rhythm the wrong signals, and therefore, I get all hyped.
At least there is something to improve and do better next time.
That’s what it’s all about.
See yah!