Give Your Subconscious a Job

The biggest breakthrough I’ve had for writing a new 4,000 word podcast script every week started with a quote I read by David Ogilvy in one of his books on advertising:

“Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you.”

The basic idea, as I took it, is that if you cram your brain full of interesting stuff and then let that interesting stuff simmer, eventually it’ll coalesce into something useful. So I’d read a ton, walk Rubes in Central Park, and, eventually, I’d have an idea for the pod that I ran with.

Read interesting stuff → “Unhook” and walk around

That method works fine, but along the way I found a better sequence.

Come up with a podcast topic → Read interesting stuff → “Unhook” and walk around

At some point I realized that if I started with a podcast topic, then read every morning and walked around in the afternoon, my brain was 100x better at making connections. And, those connections would continue to happen until I hit publish on that podcast episode. I’d be in the shower or waiting for the subway or on line for a coffee and a fully formed thought would pop into my mind.

I’m sure the shower / subway / coffee idea has happened to you, too.

What I realized (and soon learned that, like, millions of people already knew), is that your subconscious works incredibly well when you give it a clear task and then leave that task open-ended.

It’s called the Zeigarnik Effect. Basically, humans remember an incomplete task better than a completed one. Our brains are wired to seek closure, so we’ll continuously work on an open loop in the background. It’s the reason you can remember every detail about a book while you’re reading it but can’t remember who the murderer was the week after you finished.

For the last few years I’ve been trying to make the Zeigarnik Effect work for me. I start with a specific, open loop that’s important to the pod or the business, them I set up reminders about it everywhere. I add it to the home screen of my phone, I start every morning by reciting the question, and I end each night with the same.

Then, I try to feed my subconscious with high quality stuff.

It works incredibly well and I suggest you try it.

If, for example, you’re trying to get 50 interviews with pilots and you are struggling, make a note card that you keep in your pocket at all times that says, “I’ve got to speak with 50 pilots in the next two weeks,” and let your brain chew on it. Listen to startup podcasts, read high quality business books, speak with other founders, and, I guarantee, in a day or two that notecard will be filled with ideas on how to find them. Your brain will work until the loops closed. Then, open up a new one.