Three Thought Thursday

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Dear Reader,

This may be TMI, but here it goes.

I came up with this week’s topic in the shower.

That’s not entirely true.

I had a random thought come up in the shower this past week and got interested—not in the idea itself, but in the idea of having ideas in the shower (I know, lots of ideas).

I started doing some research and happened upon this blog post about boredom. The more and more I dove in, the more and more I realized a lost practice that everyone needs to adopt.

The most creative people in history often had major breakthroughs in times of ‘boredom.’ The problem is we are constantly stimulated or always working, so boredom rarely exists. Even kids in school can play Clash of Clans on their iPads if Mr. Boring History Teacher starts rambling again.

I want to share some stories of why building in time to be bored—intentional or not (like letting thoughts run in the shower)—is essential for everyone.

Boredom Breakthroughs—that’s the theme for this Three Thought Thursday.

The Best Bath Ever

One of history’s most prolific and influential scientists had his shining moment in a bathtub. Archimedes was a renowned ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He's considered one of the greatest scientists of all time, but many in the self-improvement industry know him for his famous quote: "Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough, and I'll move the world." He is the man behind the modern concept of leverage.

But Archimedes might never have had the chance to say that quote because of a project he got involved in. At the peak of his career, he was approached by King Hiero II (a scary tyrant) to construct the Syracusia, a massive ship the king was going to gift to the ruler of Egypt. It would be the largest ship ever built, an ancient equivalent of the Titanic. This thing was going to be decked out: luxurious materials, a library with marble statues, and even a bathhouse with heated water. Literal insanity, especially since the ship was designed to carry 1,000 people. Archimedes was tasked with figuring out how to make this behemoth float—failure would cost him his head (and his life).

Enter the bathtub, literally. Since he could do nothing else but be bored, Archimedes began looking around. He saw something. Archimedes noticed that the water level rose when he got in and realized that the volume of water displaced could measure an object's density. Simply put, an object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. Here’s an example to help you out: if a ship weighed 2,000 tons and displaced 2,000 tons of water, it would float (barely). 4,000 and it’d be cruising (pun intended). But if the ship only displaced 1,000 tons it would sink (and with it, Archimedes). It was a ‘Eureka Moment,’ and Archimedes used it to ensure the Syracusia would float.

Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you.

A Magical (Delayed) Train Ride

Have you ever had one of those days? Running late, getting caught in a thunderstorm, and the wind taking your project papers right before the big presentation. A woman named Joanne was having one of those days. Well, it was one of those years: the death of her mother, a divorce, and having to raise her child as a single mother on government welfare. To make matters worse, she had just gotten a major delay on her train ride back from Manchester to London. How many of us would break? She didn’t even have Netflix to watch her pain away. She had to boringly stare out the window. Out of nowhere, a thought came to her: the concept of a young boy attending a school of magic. Five years later, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was published, and J.K. Rowling became a household name. With a net worth of $60 million and the second-highest-paid author, she may reflect fondly on that seemingly mundane train delay that changed her life.

Embrace boredom when there is nothing better to do

Sleeping Google Into Existence

Larry Page was a 22-year-old graduate student at Stanford in the 90s when, one late night, he was up brainstorming ideas for some code he was working on. Unable to solve the issue, he decided to sleep on it. In a dream, he envisioned a way to download the entire internet and organize it by the links on each page. Page woke up and, luckily, had a journal on his bedside table. He immediately wrote down the idea. This became the basis for what he called the PageRank Algorithm (nerdy, I know). Initially, he named the project BackRub—not the most flattering name if you ask me—but eventually, he came around and named the company…Google. By July 2001, Google had millions of users, significant investor interest, and 400 employees. Twenty years later, it's the fourth most valuable company in the world. To the naked eye, the foundation of Google may seem like a lucky dream, but did you notice what Larry did? He wrote his dream down. How often have you had a dream that felt like a great idea or an awesome story, only to forget it because you didn't write it down? Likely more often than you can remember, literally.

Dreams do become a reality…if you recount them.

Whether it’s a shower (or bath), walking without your phone, or simply a mundane task, I hope these stories can convince you to bring a little more boring into your life.

Grateful for you,

Tommy

P.S. Can you do me a favor if you learned something new in this edition? Forward this letter to a friend who may not know about one of these three stories.