So, this is what I want, and if any
young genius is out there that can create such a thing, please get to
work on it. I want some easy way to record my thoughts while I am
in the shower. It could be water proof paper and pen. Or maybe a
recording device built into the soap dish. Whatever. I'm not picky,
just make it happen.
I'm sure you've experienced it too, you
get into the shower. The hot water starts to paint your body with
liquid comfort, and your mind wonders. Maybe you plan your day. Perhaps a solution to some problem will just pop into
your head. If you are any sort of writer or idea's person, I'm
willing to bet this where you do your best mental creativity.
Standing in the Shower, Thinking
Most
of my blog posts started in the shower, as did the
ideas for my planetarium scripts back in another life. Its a great
conduit for inspiration. I'm sure the idea for sliced bread came in
the shower, as must have the mousetrap. Archimedes famously figured
out how to tell if a suspect crown was made of pure gold or less
precious materials while in the bath, which is the ancient version of
the shower. The bath is just not as effective as the shower, though,
and it took the bath's greatest invention, the aqueduct, to bring the
shower to the masses, allowing the Roman Empire to really take off.
The Dark Ages were caused when Romans fell, taking their plumbing
with them. No showers, no ideas.
I'm pretty sure that's the way it happened, anyway.
I'm pretty sure that's the way it happened, anyway.
But as wonderful as the shower is for
the germination of ideas, it does have it's limitations. For
example, most all of those wonderful ideas just go down the drain
with the last of the water. It happens like this: We shower to get ready for work, or to go out for a
social occasion, or to run errands. Whatever. It is a little
oasis of stillness in our day, both in location and in mental state.
We can't really have screen time while in the shower. No TV,
computer, smartphone, social media. No bosses, employees, kids.
Nothing to distract us from just THINKING.
We're not even distracted with thinking itself. It's no use to try
to think in the shower, because the mere act of trying to think
messes the whole thing up. It has something to do with
quantum mechanics and the Heisenberg Principle.
Granddad's Little Ditty
But
as soon as we step outside the shower, we get busy and distracted
again. It starts as soon as we towel ourselves off. Our concentration moves to targeted goals. We make ourselves
presentable: teeth, hair, deodorant, make-up, shaving, etc etc
etc. Then there's picking out a wardrobe for the day.
Maybe some breakfast, or you take your pills. Whatever. You're
doing stuff. Already, if you remember at all that you wanted to
record your ideas that came to you in the shower, you've already
forgotten the subtleties and nuances. You may have “written” a
few perfectly constructed phrases, or an outline of your main points
with the ideal transitions. But by the time you sit down at your
computer, you have at best 10% retention. Mostly by the time you
check your e-mail, social media, texts, what have you, you've
forgotten that you even wanted to remember something.
I've
had dozens of great blog post ideas and drafts disappear because I had no way record those thoughts when the were
occurring. I know the same thing happens while on long car trips, or
while exercising, but what with hands free car phones and ear buds,
the hit rate of great ideas during these activities are in decline
for obvious reasons.
So, please, invent some way of recording ideas while in the shower. Or, better yet, come up with some way to create the same conditions that a shower offers while sitting at a desk. Of course, you know where the best place to come up with that invention is. Good luck.
So, please, invent some way of recording ideas while in the shower. Or, better yet, come up with some way to create the same conditions that a shower offers while sitting at a desk. Of course, you know where the best place to come up with that invention is. Good luck.
If you've had an great ideas in the shower and then forgot the details, what were they? How do you retain these ideas? I've set the comments options such that anybody should be able to leave a comment, not just those with Blogger accounts.
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