Do it in your head first, and then do it

Today's short post is inspired by a conversation I had with a friend. It went like this, in essence:

I have 1200 words to write by tomorrow 2359. I have a 4-hour and 6-hour window tomorrow. Doable?

My response was more analytical than necessary, I'm sure:

That's 10 hours for 1200 words, or 1 hour for 120 words, or 2 words per minute. You'll be fine. Do it in your head and then when you have access to your computer, type it all out.

I thought I'd like to write about that latter bit of advice, which was something I followed personally, especially throughout my university life. A common lament is not having enough time to do both the things you want to do and the things you have to do. Sometimes, one wishes to write, or ponder the meaning of life, but whatever precious hours that might have been better allocated to such activities are instead used to drag one's ox-cart across the field... so to speak.

On the other hand, having work to do shouldn't keep you away from the things you want to do! In university, whenever I had essays due, I first rolled ideas around in my head, planning arguments and points in my head while I do the stuff I want to do, which was PARTYING HARD and BANGING CHICKS and KNOCKING BACK COLD ONES (Okay, well, I did have a vibrant university life, but not like that). When it came to actually working on my assignments, I already had a head start tossing ideas around in my head, and I'd spend less time actually sitting at the desk.

Praise for Shape Rotating

This concept isn't limited to verbal conceptualisation. I have a feeling there's more depth to the idea of people who are good at shape rotating. What better way to utilise the skill of rotating shapes in the head (read: visualising things) than to direct the power of your imagination to solving problems?

As you can see, it really works both ways. You either do your work in your head or you do your hobbies in your head. Your brain is really good at conceptualizing, conjuring images and ideas. How far you can take this does depend on the hobbies though; obviously you can't play basketball with your imagination but you can extend it to activities like practicing your drum/guitar rhythm or imagining graphic designs you might like to create.

The point is a simple one: maximizing your time in a day could mean doing your brainstorming activities in tandem with other less cognitively-demanding tasks.

Yes, I did think up the outline for today's blog post in my head while I was doing other stuff. I often find pockets of time I can daydream while commuting, working, eating, ... The hard part is holding on to the ideas long enough, not losing your train of thought. In a sense, you're limited by your brain's RAM.