Of late I’ve replaced most of my bus commutes and walking with biking. Thanks to not feeling like biking a few days ago, I thought I’d walk to the the tube station instead. And I stumbled (literally) onto an interesting insight.
As I was walking, I suddenly got a few ideas for blog posts. And asked myself “why.” I realized that activities can broadly be split into 4 buckets.
Idea Production activities – Walking, shower-ing, sitting (there’s a reason why we imagine writers write sitting, staring out of a window)
Idea Consumption activities – Biking, driving, running, waiting (and in general standing, for long periods)
Combination of both: Commutes involving long train or bus journeys
Non-idea activities: Activities that fully engross us. Playing a game of football or playing the piano or working.
Idea consumption activities are such because they involve some amount of stress to the system. In Daniel Kahneman’s words, idea consumption involves more system 1 (quick thinking) than system 2 (deep thought). This ties in with my observation that standing is better for getting things done while sitting is better for creative thinking.
Key Takeaway? Don’t feel guilty about time spent in the shower.
Lesson learnt.
A Learning a Day 