I’ve written before about how space, time and sleep, can help give you a fresh perspective on things. In a similar vein, today I want to talk about how silence and meditation can be used as an effective tool for solving problems and making progress.
Take this morning, for example. As per usual, I sat down to meditate for a few quiet minutes. No plan, no guidance and zero expectations about what might come up.
Within a few minutes something comes up. The solution to a problem I’ve been struggling with, in a client project I’m working on. Something tells me that I solved a similar problem a while back. With not too much effort I could repurpose that work for this particular project.
This isn’t the first time I’ve found solutions through meditation and I’m sure it won’t be the last. What I find fascinating is that in most cases like this, I never sit down to consciously reflect on the problem I’m experiencing. I just sit there, wait, and see what turns up. In these quiet moments, I seem to reveal memories buried deep within my mind. Things I already know that are usually obscured by the typical distractions of everyday life. The silence somehow allows them to resurface.
In a fantastic conversation about copywriting with David Perell, Harry Dry shares a similar idea - which he calls Silence and Action – where he wakes up and for some time will just sit there in silence. Other times, he’ll take a walk, most often alone, in silence, without any form of entertainment. No scrolling social media or doing things that might cloud his head and turn the day to drudge. Harry uses these moments as a chance to collect his thoughts and give himself the best possible shot at creating something good.
What I like about Harry’s approach is that it shows meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting on the floor, legs crossed, wondering when your 10 minutes are up. It can also mean getting outside in nature. Or, really, any way you can find a quiet moment to create space and clarity in your mind.
Often, all it takes is a few quiet minutes of distraction-free time to solve a problem and find the most appropriate way forward. A clear mind makes it easier to reflect and recover what you already know. It’s in moments like these where we make sense of things and the good stuff can be found.