OK yes: it’s hard to hear yourself think; writing is a great way to isolate and sharpen ideas. But so’s a long walk, conversation, etc. They all have their own effect, like an EQ on mental noise! Fun to think about steering those vibes. Partial catalog (reply with more!):
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Writing is fairly directed, good for maintaining a train of thought for long periods. The “scratchpad” of writing-so-far supports flimsy working memory, allowing more constituent thoughts to be juggled in synthesis. It’s a bit easy to iterate on something specific.
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Conversation will jump between more threads; it’s rare to focus on one idea for hours. But it may be more generative both because it’s less focused and because it involves others. The stakes for making progress often feel lower than for writing… which can be either good or bad.
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Long solo contemplative walks have low stakes—maybe lower than in conversation—but can linger somewhat longer on a single thread than might be socially comfortable in a conversation. It’s easier to just zone out, though, which might or might not be helpful.
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Just being bored, sitting somewhere, can be comparatively quite generative: helpful thoughts might arise which would feel too off-topic to pursue otherwise! Or I might just end up with a more expansive mental state, to be deployed in one of the other methods.
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Sitting comfortably and pondering an idea (without much writing) is less directed than writing but more directed than many of the others; it’s easy to maintain threads, but maybe not for hours. Feels a little more distant from the problem than writing, which can be helpful.
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I like thinking about these methods like a growing deck of cards: I can shuffle them and deal randomly, or browse through for one that feels right at the moment, or look for combinations, etc.
In that respect I’m very inspired by amazon.com/Art-Game-Desig (h/t !)
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Three more come to mind:
• Explaining/rubber ducking. Distinct from conversation, more fluid than writing.
• Diagramming. Unlike narratives, different forms of diagrams make it easy to reduce specificity but preserve presence.
• I have recorded voice notes mid-walk.
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Message board argument. More formal than a conversation, less formal than “real” writing. At its best it encourages a kind of virtuosic discourse - the spontaneous flow of speech with the rigorous research and careful composition of writing.
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for me talking to myself works just fine. especially without any sleep for days. gives concentration, combines leftovers of energy in brain. “Rubberducking for remote workers” I call it.