It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower. — Paul Graham

It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower.

Author: Paul Graham

Insight: We all have those tasks we approach mechanically—the ones we knock out during work hours and then immediately forget about. But the best work rarely comes from sitting at a desk forcing focus. It comes when your mind is wandering, when you're not trying, when you're in that loose, half-aware state that the shower seems to unlock. Something about letting your guard down lets genuine thinking happen. This matters because we live in a culture that equates effort with results. We think real work means grinding, concentrating hard, checking boxes efficiently. But some of the most important thinking—the kind that actually produces something worth doing—happens sideways. It happens when you're doing something physical and repetitive, when part of your brain is occupied but another part is free to roam and make unexpected connections. The practical twist: the things you naturally think about in the shower are often the things that actually matter to you. Not because you decided they should, but because your mind keeps returning to them unbidden. That's worth listening to. If you can't think about something beyond your scheduled work time, it might be telling you something—that it's either not actually important to you, or you're approaching it in a way that's closed off genuine thinking. Either way, it's worth noticing.

Source: Think About in the Shower. Paul Graham Essays, 2016