How to Solve Problems While You Rest

how to solve problems while you restHave you ever got stuck while trying to solve a problem, only to take a break from it and have the solution come to you effortlessly?

You probably have.

But how often?

In this post I’m going to teach you two methods for solving problems while resting or taking a break.

This is a skill that you can practice over time to become a more creative and inspired problem-solver–anyone who tells you otherwise is either ignorant or can’t do it themself.

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David Ogilvy.

Winston Churchill.

Thomas Edison.

What do these men have in common?

It’s probably not what you think.

It is that they had strict routines for getting ideas and solving problems.

They all exercised a high degree of control over their subconscious mind–and took great care in practicing that skill. They all led lives that were conducive to becoming “inspired”.

David Ogilvy

David Ogilvy was one of the greatest admen to ever have lived, and one of the most creative people during the 20th century. Here are a few of his thoughts on exercising the subconscious mind:

I am almost incapable of logical thought, but I have developed techniques for keeping open the telephone line to my unconscious… I hear a great deal of music. I am on friendly terms with John Barleycorn. I take long hot baths. I garden. I go into retreat among the Amish. I watch birds. I go for long walks in the country. And I take frequent vacations, so that my brain can lie fallow—no golf, no cocktail parties, no tennis, no bridge, no concentration; only a bicycle.

While thus employed in doing nothing, I receive a constant stream of telegrams from my unconscious, and these become the raw material for my advertisements. But more is required: hard work, an open mind, and ungovernable curiosity

— David Ogilvy —

Winston Churchill

Churchill would not only power nap, but he would also take a longer naps – usually around noon. He made a mental distinction by separating the day in half: Before and after noon:

You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one-well, at least one and a half, I’m sure. When the war started, I had to sleep during the day because that was the only way I could cope with my responsibilities.

— Winston Churchill —

Thomas Edison

Edison was the most extreme of these men when it came to power napping. He kept beds in all of his houses and workshops. I’ve read in many times (websites and blogs) that he used to nap at his work desk – but I don’t believe it.

Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night.

Edison was much too conscious of his environment to sleep at his work desk–which is why he kept beds in other rooms than the one he worked in.

The reason Edison did this was because he understood that the brain creates situation-specific mindsets and habits in different environments.

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Note: You can successfully use the same strategy as Edison without having to buy multiple beds. You can divide your room/house/apartment in different sections

Keep each section apart to associate different moods and mental states for each section. If you, for example, conduct multiple activities in one room, it will take longer for you to change between the specific state conducive to each activity.

Keep:

–One section for working.

–One section for reading and writing.

–One section for resting and meditating.

–One section for eating.

If you are starved on space, one way of solving this is by buying Chinese screens to create different sections.

Two Ways You Can Use to Solve Problems While You Rest

These two ways are power napping and prospective meditation.

When you use either one of these ways your results will improve if you state a specific intention before beginning.

Before you start resting you should give your mind a clear order of what you want it to do for you.

You must state your command either by thinking it, by writing it, or by saying it loud.

After you have done that you can use these two methods:

  1. Power Napping. Take a power nap and focus on the problem while expecting the answer to come. Keep the nap short, rest no longer than 30 minutes or you’re likely to get tired. You want to wake up feeling refreshed and inspired.
  2. Prospective Meditation. This is a meditation I have developed myself. I’ve practiced it for about a year. It really helps with brainstorming, creativity, and inspiration. You become an idea machine.

I have meditated consistently for close to three years now, and while I probably suffer from the curse of knowledge, I would guess that prospective meditation is more difficult to a novice than “normal” meditation is.

When I say normal meditation I mean quieting your thoughts while shifting your focus into the body and relaxing fully.

There’s three steps to the process of learning to do prospective meditation:

  • You need to be able to do normal meditation and quickly shut off your thoughts while shifting your focus into the body, or in other words, to feel rather than to think.
  • You then slowly start observing your internal dialogue without getting drawn into it or identifying with it. This is hard for a novice, which is why you might need to first practice your metacognition a lot. One aspect of having good metacognition is to be aware of your internal dialogue and the thoughts you’re having.
  • You wait and observe your internal dialogue for interesting thoughts. You wait some more, until a good idea comes along. The process is analogous to prospecting for gold–you put a lot of things through a funnel and look for the good stuff. In this case your ideas represent the gold and the funnel represents your conscious mind..

The more you do it the easier it gets and the faster it goes.

But how do I know if it’s a good idea that comes along?

–You will feel it instantly. And if you can’t feel it, use your common sense. It’s impossible to mistake the feeling. You know, the feeling of having a great idea and just wanting to get it out of your head right away!

And that’s exactly what you’re going to do.

When you have come up with 1-4 ideas you must immediately write them down, and preferably execute them.

The reason it’s imperative you do this is because the short-term memory is much weaker than most people think it is. The short-term memory is limited to about 30 seconds. And the conscious mind cannot hold more than 5-9 items (ideas) at the same time.

Don’t overestimate your memory like most people do.

Don’t lose the smart ideas you have.

Now Start Practicing Your Subconscious Mind

It wasn’t until about 2-3 years ago that I understood that it’s possible to practice my creative process and find ways of improving inspiration, creativity, and problem-solving by practicing.

In this time I have experimented with various ways of practicing my subconscious mind.

I have now distilled all those things down to a few things–the most efficient ones. Like power napping and prospective meditation in combination with a clear command.

These things work very well.

I am much more creative and “inspired” than I were a few years ago, and it’s only getting better.

When you find successful ways of practicing these things, your ability to synthesize information improves. Meaning that you get better at combining ideas and coming up with new ideas. Meaning that you become more creative.

This is potent stuff. But don’t expect to see any major results from practicing it for a few days or a week.

 

RESOURCES:

 

This is a video of Lee David Zlatoff, the creator and writer of MacGyver. He speaks about his creative process and how he had to improve his creativity to write new episodes for MacGyver. This is interesting stuff, because you’re probably in a situation where you are forced to you to produce creative content as well.

He’s not the best speaker. But the content is good, and I can vouch for most of the things he’s saying. My method is very similar.

He starts speaking about the things specifically related to creativity and practicing your subconscious mind at 10 minutes.

The implications from the video are:

–Your subconscious mind is much faster at processing information than your conscious mind is.

–You subconscious mind should be used to solve problems. Your conscious mind should be used for delegating the problems.

–Write down your questions or to-do items.

–Take a rest.

Do you have any personal strategies for solving problems and becoming more creative?

 Photo credit: agustinrafaelreyes

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Comments

  1. All this is so true!!! I discovered this when one day my voice in my head kept nagging to write my “Random Ideas” ideas at the back of my notepad I keep my daily routine in. At the end of the week i was amazed to find my ideas filled 6 pages.

    Ideas come to me mainly when I do mundane tasks, think about articles/books I’ve read or just sit outside.

    Regarding “Prospective Meditation” ideas have been coming to me when I Meditate daily and now I know what its called. However I’ve never been able to turn it on at will whilst Meditating, I’ll try this and see if it works for me.

    For some odd reason the other night I was up from Midnight till 4 am in my bed constantly getting up to write down ideas that were popping-up from nowhere. I suppose you have to feed your subconscious constantly by allowing it to “Fallow” so you can reap the intuitive ideas it produces.

    Google Keep is also a great note keeping medium for this very purpose.

    • It did require a lot of practice for me at first. Probably a few months. I don’t remember. But it is my modus operandi for creativity now.

      I like to do meditation or take a powernap each day and come up with at least 3 ideas, which I then promptly write down. When I have enough of them I organize them in an appropriate section of my commonplace.

      • Thanks Ludvig, I tried it as the Article suggests today and was amazed that it worked on demand. I saw different angles to a problem I had and got a few new ideas in the process. I’ll keep practising and see what happens

        Power Naps for me are more like laying down and doing nothing for 30-45 minutes; sometimes I nap, other times I just lie there, ideas coming out of nowhere.

        The ideas I get doing these also go into my Commonplace or get acted upon immidiately.

  2. Nice blog Ludvig, I’m hooked!

    I’m writing because of your last question on this post – “Do you have any personal strategies for solving problems and becoming more creative?” I have a few that might be interesting to you.

    Number one.

    -Do stuff you are „supposed“ to do. For example – I had to write a short 5-7 pages essay using something out of popular 19th century literature. So I read 4-5 books written in that time, and got some historical context.

    -Get the full picture. 19th century is considered „modern“. So to become more creative on those matters, I started reading about advancements in AI, bio-engineering, etc. In short – what could be considered „modern“ today.

    -Forget about it and take a break. I just worked out, meditated and read some fiction for a few days to cool of. For leisure I watched a movie called „Ghost in a shell“, and read a trilogy of horror/mistery books „Ring“, „Spiral“ and „Loop“.
    -Find a problem that reasonates with you. I founded it in the movie. At the end of it (spoilers??) a robot with incredible AI merges with the protagonist of the movie who is a human female. A new species is born.

    -Check your notes. One of the books I read in step number one was „Frankenstein“ by Mary Shelly. It is ultimately about an unorthodox creation of a new species, which never had a chance to survive, because it died without having a partner, and couldn‘t bear offsprings. Frankenstein once or twice called himself Adam. Wow, that is nice – another angle to play with. Christianity. Wait a second – Frankenstein is sometimes called „Modern Prometheus“. Maybe lets reread the myth of the Prometheus?

    -From then on it is a total clusterfuck. Different ideas, angles and associations just start crashing in and all you have to do is somehow control it. At first I was about to write how the whole process went down, but it would be too much just for a comment on a post. This story is a perfect example – I used all the ideas I read and thought of during that week – about evolution, generational conflicts, biology, AI, cybernization, God – human relations (I‘m not a believer, but that doesn‘t mean it‘s not in our culture, our psyche) and etc.

    So in short this startegy of mine works because 1) I keep notes and 2) I try to diversify 3) I let myself forget about the problem

    Well that was a longer reply than I anticipated. Probably I‘m aint going to write the other ones, got some work to do.

    Take care,
    William

    • You are right, William — that is a phenomenal example!

      Way to go. You really went all out on this project. I hope this is a prevailing attitude on your part (otherwise, apply the same formula for more things!).

      My overall learning strategy, when it comes to gaining initial immersion into a new topic (thereby ‘creating passion’ for it) is very similar.

  3. Great post Ludvig,

    I think the best times for coming up with new ideas have always been while I’ve rested. It makes sense because your brain is like a muscle. And like all muscles, they grow when they’re resting.

    Google is so ingrained with that philosophy that they actually make it a big part of their daily productivity and expect their staff to spend at least a few hours per day doing fun activities. Their whole offices are scattered with gyms, books and relaxation rooms.

    I went to one of their offices in London and was blown away by it. It really is important.

    • Thanks Onder!

      “Google is so ingrained with that philosophy that they actually make it a big part of their daily productivity and expect their staff to spend at least a few hours per day doing fun activities. Their whole offices are scattered with gyms, books and relaxation rooms.”

      — I knew they allowed employees to work on their own projects, but I didn’t know about that. Very cool!

      That’s the future. Managers/company executives will start understanding this eventually.

  4. Very interesting ideas. I kind of break off different sections of my house for various activities. Like I have one area that I only go to when I want to work. Although I should get better at that. I have noticed that doing things can increase your productive abilities. It’s like your mind gets into the zone right away and you don’t need to switch from one activity to the other.

    This post reminds me of something I read from Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich. If I remember right, he said that creative ideas all come from a subconscious area. The trick is to tap into that area to see what good ideas you can bring out of it. I think that’s what you’re getting at here too. Personally speaking, I’ve had some great ideas when I’ve just let my mind wander, often while I’m meditating. It works well for me.

    • Hey Steve!

      “This post reminds me of something I read from Napoleon Hill in Think and Grow Rich. If I remember right, he said that creative ideas all come from a subconscious area.”

      –> That doesn’t surprise me. That book (the original, the Law of Sucess in 16 lessons, 1200 pages) is probably the best book I have ever read. However, many — many — other people agree that creativity stems from the subconscious mind. I definitely agree with this.

      The conscious mind (thought & willpower) should be used for:
      — Learning new things, implementing or breaking habits, and to make decisions.

      The subconscious mind should be used for most other things.

      ” I’ve had some great ideas when I’ve just let my mind wander”

      — I think this happens to everyone (except Kim Peek, Rain Man). One of the things I’ve been practicing very, very hard over the past year has been to write things down at all times. That way I get to keep many ideas.

  5. I have to honestly say this is heavy stuff! i like the words from Ogilvy about how to tap the creative mind. surely I’d love to go on a retreat, quiet time gardening and all that introvert stuff! It’s a good reminder that after all, we need some break and give our mind some fresh air in order to recuperate and start working again!

    • Yeah. When I first tried these things out I was sceptic, then I slowly started seeing a bit of positive results and have become increasingly better at delegating order to my subconscious.

      Speaking of breaks, today I am taking one. Like you say, I need to recuperate.

  6. Great post Ludvig! On my days off I usually take a nap when my son does and when I get up I’m refreshed and renewed for the rest of the day/night. It allows me to be productive during the evening (After my wife and son go to bed). Love the example you shared.

  7. This is the best post I’ve read for you. I saved it to my favorites.

    This is so concise man. This was great.

    Umm, I use this concept to make my videos but you added A LOT more that I can start applying.

    • Thank you Sebastian.
      Great to hear. It’ll be cool to see how it goes for you. Btw, to anyone reading this — Sebastian shot a video about how he has got ripped (he has competed in bodybuilding). Might be interested for you to watch.

      — Feel free to link it Sebastian!

  8. “Keep:

    –One section for working.

    –One section for reading and writing.”

    I was wondering how you differentiate between those two (I assume most of your work is writing and reading)?

    I personally have a 1 room appartment (big room), where I have a section for resting and eating (bed + couch + 2 tables) and 1 section for work (big desk by the window).

    • Oskar,

      Great question. And you’re right. I do a lot of reading and writing.

      The difference for me is whether I do it on my computer or physical.

      I sit by my computer to fix various school and business-related things. I also write a lot.

      But when I read physical books and take notes with multicolored pencils etc.. I sit in my couch.

  9. Michal Stawicki says

    Cool stuff Ludvig. You have a gift to present such tidbits in an interesting way. I take power naps almost everyday. I was aware of the solving problem aspect, but I had never given it much thought.
    I have a fair share of problems and as I nap so often, I’m going to use those naps to accelerate my growth.
    Thanks!

    • Thank you Michal,

      “You have a gift to present such tidbits in an interesting way”

      — If I do it’s only because I’ve practiced it so much over the past 1+ year. I’ve always had a lot of cool content in my head, but I’ve sucked at communicating before.

      Thanks for the comment mate.

  10. Hi Ludvig,
    Great clear post and one that a lot of people struggle with. It is almost counter intuitive, isn’t it, to take a nap or meditate rather than focus solidly on the problem. You almost feel guilty that you are not putting your full attention on it.
    But that is to not understand that what is going on in your brain is mostly outside of your awareness and you are working on it, just not within your awareness.

    It’s almost like a virtual assistant – you are aware of a problem, you define the problem, then you assign it off to them, only to become aware of it again when the assistant comes back with a solution!

    I was reading recently the CIA problem solving protocol, very interesting (more logical frontal cortex though) analysis!

    Take care
    Aaron Morton
    The Confidence Lounge

    • Hey Aaron,

      “It’s almost like a virtual assistant – you are aware of a problem, you define the problem, then you assign it off to them, only to become aware of it again when the assistant comes back with a solution!”

      — That’s a great analogy!

      “I was reading recently the CIA problem solving protocol, very interesting (more logical frontal cortex though) analysis!”

      — Please post the link (if it’s on the Internet). It sounds like it’s right up my alley.

  11. Good info Ludvig. I do a lot of power napping. I have done it ever since I worked shifts and realized it helped keep me energized.

    Didnt know the creative aspects of it though..

  12. Good stuff.

    I always try to get outside at noon and clear my mind while soaking up the sun. I’ll try to give my mind an order before I start next time.

    Also, I find having something to write my ideas down at all times is key. I always try to keep my iPhone on me. Over the span of a month I had over 100 good post ideas.

    So when are you going to give a TED talk? I know you would do a kick ass speech.

    • Thanks Mark.

      Absolutely. I agree with you, writing things down is SO key.

      Regading the TED talk. It’s on my bucket list in the coming 5 years. I just need to find an angle. But don’t you worry, Mark. It will happen.

  13. Awesome article man, really enjoyed this one! I personally love practicing mindfulness meditation as a way of becoming more creative. I don’t realize any benefits when I’m sitting on the cushion, but afterwards it’s like a switch flipped in my head, and I’m able to work way better and smarter after.

    • Thanks Chris!

      I like it both for the creative aspects, and for the boost in concentration — as you say.

      It’s a lot easier to stay focused on the key task of the day after having meditated.

  14. I really like reading the famous people’s own words. I don’t have too much time to meditate, but I fall asleep if I think deeply.

  15. awesome ideas and video. I always liked Mcgyver growing up… it’s nice to get some perspective on it and undersand the hard work that went into it.

  16. Wan Muhammad Zulfikri says

    Interesting post, Ludvig.

    I agree with what you said. I read many stories of successful people who got their best ideas while resting and meditating.

    As a Muslim, I prayed five times a day and it shocks me that I can’t focus all the time. Why? Prayer is like meditation and when I did it, all sorts of wonderful ideas came through.

    “Keep the nap short, rest no longer than 30 minutes or you’re likely to get tired.”

    I would like to point out that when anyone want to start making a power nap, they need an alarm and commit to wake up after it rings. I had many experiences of an intended 30 minutes that turned into 3 hours sleep fest. It angers me all the time when that happened.

    Another thing I suggest people do is to take a morning walk and also do this activity I call “problem solving morning”.

    For the morning walk, I realized that Charles Darwin (read his routine – http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/daily_routines/2008/12/charles-darwin.html) and Paulo Coelho do it everyday.

    A morning walk is different than walking on other period of time. It is soothing, relax and I realized that ideas come really fast without the distractions and the like.

    Another thing is the “problem solving morning”, basically after you wake up, try to lie on your bed for a little while, think about your problems and ask yourself on how to solve it. Last time I did, I got a stream of ideas that I never thought my brain isn’t capable of creating. Sadly, I didn’t have my phone beside me to record all the ideas at that time.

    My theory is that morning is the freshest time for our conscious mind to process the things we learned while sleeping. When we think of a problem and how to solve it in the morning(especially the early morning), the connection between the conscious and the subconscious mind is stronger.

    • Wan,
      Great comment!

      “As a Muslim, I prayed five times a day and it shocks me that I can’t focus all the time. Why? Prayer is like meditation and when I did it, all sorts of wonderful ideas came through”
      —> While I’m not religious, I can see how this can be beneficial. I have a few muslim friends who tell me the same thing. I just don’t see the point of bowing up and down on a carpet.

      “I would like to point out that when anyone want to start making a power nap, they need an alarm and commit to wake up after it rings.”

      –> Great observation. Yes. It’s good to set an alarm. Or if you want to be creative you can use the same method as Einstein and Salvador Dali used. They sat and meditated/napped until the point of falling asleep. To prevent falling asleep they held a heavy iron key in their hand. Below the hand was a plate, which would make loud sound to wake them up and prevent them from falling asleep.
      I haven’t tried it myself, but it sounds cool.

      On problem-solving morning:
      — Ah. I will try going on a walk like this tomorrow.

      Hitler did the same thing. Sometimes isolating himself for hours.

      • According to Speer, Hitler frequently stayed up all night watching old movies and then slept half the day. He doesn’t appear to have kept any consistent routine, especially in his last years. Sometimes he even forgot to feed his dog.

      • I have read the same thing Abgrund. At least in Speer’s biography written by Gitta Sereny, and in Alan Bullocks “A Study in Tyranny”.

        But as you say, that was during his bunker years.

        Before that, especially around the time before WW2 (when he was “peacefully” conquering surrounding territory), he would stay in Berghof. There he would take long walks and think for hours. When he got back in Berlin he would often lie in his bed until noon just thinking on problems, not allowing anyone to see him.

        The reason for this was because he didn’t want anyone to interfere with his thinking. He wanted ZERO outside influence on his decision making process.

        I’ve written two posts about this. Not sure if I’ll publish though.

      • Ludwig: “The reason for this was because he didn’t want anyone to interfere with his thinking. He wanted ZERO outside influence on his decision making process.”

        The result was the most destructive war in history, three years of bombing which made Hiroshima look like a church social, the loss of a whole generation of German men, and a half-century of Russian occupation of East Germany. Ignoring the experts in favor of one’s one judgment is not always a good idea.

      • I think you are skipping to the conclusion. This was many years before that happened. This was during the time when Hitler was still brilliant — and was held in high esteem by just about everyone except the generals.

        ” Ignoring the experts in favor of one’s one judgment is not always a good idea”

        — I agree.
        But I am still amazed at the amount of effort he put into doing his own thinking.

    • Michal Stawicki says

      I have been taking power naps for years and I’m still not trained in waking up on demand. Alarm clock is a must. At least I have no problems getting up. I squashed the temptation to “lay just a couple of minutes more” a long time ago.

  17. I like what you say about Edison. I have read the same thing and I don’t believe it either. I agree with your explanation for it.

    But also…
    Why the fuck would he sleep on his desk when he was a multi millionaire (billionaire?) and could afford to sleep in much more comfortable things…

  18. Hi Ludvig. This is interesting.

    Powernaps I’ve only done a few times but i will try it out a bit more now to see if it makes me more productive. But what about the “prospective meditation”? I meditate sometimes, maybe 2 times a week. I can do it, but it’s hard for me and requires at least 15 minutes to “quiet the mind”. If i follow the instructions you have written how long do you think it will take me until i learn to use prospective meditation to come up with ideas or solve problems?

    • Hey Jen,

      Meditation is so individual and subjective. It probably means a different thing to me than it does to you.

      I can’t say for sure, but if you practiced daily I would guess you could learn it in a few weeks or months.

  19. Heathenwinds says

    Wonderful post as always, Ludvig! At 14, I’m aware of the fact that my PFC isn’t fully formed and that my mind is more “plastic” than it is among adults. I’ve found that keeping a commonplace helps me with indecision immensely, but I’m not sure what to do to take advantage of the latter feature of my adolescence. Since I am as impressionable as I’ll ever be, what can I do to take advantage of this? Thank you in advance!

    • Thank you Heathenwinds.

      Very impressive that you know that stuff at 14 already. It will give you an immense advantage over other people in the long-term.

      However, I’m not sure I understand your question. Can you please rephrase it?

      For example, what do you mean by this?
      “I’m not sure what to do to take advantage of the latter feature of my adolescence”

      PS:
      You write well for a 14-year old.

      • Heathenwinds says

        Many thanks and apologies for the lack of gratitude. I was in a rush(although I had no reason to be) when I typed that.

        So what I’m asking is this:

        As somebody in his adolescent years, I am aware that I am doubly cursed and gifted.

        My curse is that my PFC(prefrontal cortex) isn’t fully developed. Is there any way to “speed along” its development, besides what you mentioned in your ebook(good read, by the way)?

        My gift is that my brain is “plastic” and adaptable at my young age. For better or for worse, I am very impressionable as a result. Is there anything that I can do to make sure that I get the right influences to help me through life while avoiding the “wrong,” and assumedly pro-homeostasis influences?

        Thank you for responding so quickly and I apologize in advance if I took too long to get to the point.

      • Heathenwinds says

        In the first sentence, I meant “clarity,” not “gratitude”

    • I understand now. Thank you, Heathenwinds.

      First of all, the fact that you are already aware of this stuff will shield you from most bullshit that comes your way comparatively to other people your age. It’s a lot harder to influence someone who has set his mind on not being influenced.

      Great question. However, I don’t know of any way of speeding up the of the PFC. If you read the book you know much of what I have to say about the PFC.

      To summarize, anything that forces you to keep your concentration for a prolonged period of time will strengthen it. Other things that are great for the PFC are:
      –Learning new things.
      –Novelty in general (including going new places and breaking your ordinary routine to try new stuff).
      –Making many decisions.
      –Sticking to the decisions and executing, especially when it’s challenging.

      “Is there anything that I can do to make sure that I get the right influences to help me through life while avoiding the “wrong,” and assumedly pro-homeostasis influences?”

      — Wrong is a matter of definition. So, I’ll give my opinion on avoiding homeostasis. Here’s a number of things you can start doing if you aren’t already:

      –Read books & actively set out to master new skills.
      –Think a lot. Repeatedly think about what you will accomplish in over the coming 1,5,10,20,50 years. See how the things you are currently doing are aligning with your future plans. Is there a disparity between the two?
      –Work out / do physical exercise.
      –Eat well
      –Sleep well.
      –Meditate or find some other activity to practice sustaining a high level of concentration. (If you are to do great things you must be able to concentrate for abnormally long periods of time.)

      Here are a few things to stay away from:

      –TV.
      –Multitasking.
      –Playing video games.
      –Eating candy and drinking soda (sugar).

      That’s what I can think about off the top of my head without being too specific.

      None of these things will make or break you in the short-term, but over months or years they make a dramatic difference.

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