“Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are the most active.”
-Leonardo Da Vinci
Obviously you can tell this is true because I am posting this instead of doing work, but even now, who know’s what this post will turn into or where it will go. Some days, the moment I sit down to the computer I begin working right away, but more typically I check HackerNews or Daily Beast Cheat Sheet to help get my mind flowing. I like to know what is going on in the technology world and the real world because it helps give me a basis of reality that can be lost after several days of intense work.
As I work on taking my startup from nothing, to profitable, I sometimes end up spending 12-14 hours a day on the computer. It is crazy and I try to break it apart into morning, afternoon, and evenings, with meals and exercise for breaks. It may sound intense and like a lot of time, but the fact is, I love it. I’ve never been happier, being able to focus on my dream, which is to have my own successful company that does a lot more than just pay the bills. When I am away from the computer, if not reading, exercising or eating, I slowly begin to get a creeping anxiety that I could be doing something better with my time, like sitting in front of my computer letting my mind run wild. Because when it runs wild there, there are really no limits to what I can do.
Even if I’m sitting here reading about something completely off topic in one of my 300 tabs, I can be struck with a great idea. Sometimes the “idleness” of reading an interesting article on genetics can trigger a thought that results in a new idea, not necessarily right then, but when it combines with some other idea in the future. The idea for my company started with “idle” reading of a few forum posts and coming across enough stats to back up my hunch. I’m not saying to go read Hacker News, Reddit and BoingBoing all day long, but that the approach to being 100% locked on only work related items, can’t be for the best. Let your mind wander and you just may find a newer, better path than the one you’re currently on, or at least right your course.
