The Most Important Fifteen Minutes of My Day

I want to tell you about the most important fifteen minutes of my day (not counting my spiritually fulfilling discussions with my wife about her hopes and dreams, in case she’s reading this).

The most important fifteen minutes of my (business) day are when I turn off my smartphone, unplug from the Internet, and force myself to generate new ideas. I’m a huge fan of highly regimented creativity – a notion that seems paradoxical, I know. But it works.

For a long time, I let my schedule steamroll me. I had no time in the day because there was always a quasi-emergency that needed my attention right that nanosecond. Always emails to send, calls to make, meetings to attend, subreddits to click on.

My schedule was too packed to come up with ideas. Which is a huge problem: For writers, ideas are our lifeblood. Our business has become much more entrepreneurial, and, with a few exceptions, we have to generate our own projects.

A few years ago, I started a habit: No matter how busy I am, I try to allot 15 minutes a day to brainstorming new ideas.

This may seem odd, since many believe inspiration should strike randomly, as it did when Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral got burrs on his socks during a hike and – eureka – came up with the idea for Velcro. Those out-of-the-blue breakthroughs do happen. Sometimes.

But there’s also something to be said for making a strict appointment with your Muse. Because if you don’t carve out time, the day will slip away as you deal with minutiae.

Ninety-five percent of the ideas I generate during these 15 minutes are useless. They’re too big, or too weird, or too dumb. Here are some rejects from this week alone:

-A business that collects depressing Facebook updates and posts them on your wall so you can feel better about your own life.

-Cutesy "surprise divorce" videos for Youtube (e.g. a woman has her husband do scavenger hunt where the answer is “I want out of this marriage.”)

-An artisanal windshield wiper for your car (i.e. a Greenpoint resident who sits on the hood and wipes the rain off your window with a gingham cloth as you drive down the highway).

As you can see, those aren’t going anywhere.

But once in awhile, an idea will be in the Goldilocks zone. In fact, most of my big projects have spun out of these brainstorming sessions.

A few weeks ago, I spent 15 minutes thinking about 3-D printing. What could I do with this phenomenon? My son’s birthday was coming up, so maybe I could print him a present. Or else print everything in my apartment, from the furniture to my sneakers.

This seed evolved into a New York Times article for which I 3-D printed a three-course dinner for my wife – the forks, plates, candlesticks and of course, the pizza.

Earlier in the year, my son left a Valentine heart candy on my desk. During my 15 minutes, I tried to revamp the candy. What if the candy was in the shape of a real heart, with the atria and ventricles? Or in the shape of a brain, since that’s where the oxytocin is produced.

This led to an essay in Esquire about rationality and love.

The candy turned out to be a good prop. I often try to leave jetsam on my desk for my mind to grasp onto – books, weird objects, or articles I’ve electronically clipped. Sometimes I brainstorm with a goal – I focus on generating a book or article idea. But my favorite times are when I don’t limit myself to an end point – happily spinning (mostly unusable) ideas for a new business or power tool or comic book.

My friend James Altucher – an author, venture capitalist and blogger -- is one of the most creative thinkers I’ve ever met. He's the Large Hadron Collider of idea machines.

He also religiously allots time every day for random brainstorming. He told me that he doesn’t mind if none of the ideas see the light of day. For him, it’s a mental workout, the brain’s version of an elliptical machine. It makes your creativity muscle stronger, which lets you solve problems better in every part of your life. If you’re stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire, your agile, in-shape mind will be able to come up with better solutions.

I did my idea training this morning (nothing much useable) so now it's back to emails, phone calls and important subreddits.

Be sure to click 'Follow' if you want to read more columns from A.J. Jacobs. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers "The Year of Living Biblically" and "Drop Dead Healthy." His website is ajjacobs.com, his twitter is @ajjacobs and his email is ajjacobs1@gmail.com

Photo: Courtesy of AJ Jacobs