Summary: Paul Graham suggests that the thoughts we have in the shower are crucial for solving problems. He warns that allowing unimportant ideas, like money or disputes, to dominate our minds can hinder our progress on more meaningful work. To maintain focus on what truly matters, we should consciously manage the situations we engage in.
Now I'd go further: now I'd say it's hard to do a really good job on anything you don't think about in the shower. (View Highlight)
Note: What you think about in the shower should probably be what you're working on. And if the thing you're working on isn't what you think about in the shower, then you're not working on the right things.
That has been the lesson for me: be careful what you let become critical to you. Try to get yourself into situations where the most urgent problems are ones you want to think about. (View Highlight)
Note: You can't control where exactly your thoughts wander, but you can control the situations that predict the likelihood of where your thoughts will wander.
I've found I can to some extent avoid thinking about nasty things people have done to me by telling myself: this doesn't deserve space in my head. I'm always delighted to find I've forgotten the details of disputes, because that means I hadn't been thinking about them. My wife thinks I'm more forgiving than she is, but my motives are purely selfish. (View Highlight)
