Carpe Your Thoughts - on the Fly

I’m not always particularly “carpe diem.” At times I’m the complete opposite: I want days to pass unnoticed, to remain entirely uncaptured while I lie under a blanket. Other times I want to hold onto them so tightly that they crumble. Unable to enjoy the moment because I’m already missing what’s still happening.

Both states are the polar opposite of mindfulness. But I suppose we’re born with different skill sets. I apparently stood in the queue where “high speed” and “restlessness” were handed out.

I’ve therefore given up on capturing whole days, and instead do my best to capture every thought... It’s hard work, I can tell you that.

Because thoughts are many and fleeting. Like mist and dreams, they drift up and disappear. If you’re not in the right mental place, they move on to another human being. Or at least, that’s how I think about it. (So does Rick Rubin I noticed when reading his book The Creative Act — so I consider myself to be in very good company…)

I have notebooks in every corner, pens in every pocket. Scribbled notepads and napkins — best case, I can make out what I’ve written. Worst case, I haven’t got a clue.

But because I’ve learned to trust the messy process, and I know that writing in all its forms — even the illegible ones — is my way of thinking. So I stay the course. I collect my incomprehensible scraps and know that the very best ideas hopefully work like corks. They float to the surface sooner or later.

They seek me out, not the other way around.

Another essential ingredient for getting my mind into gear is — drumroll: conversation. Dialogue! Chains of ideas that form as they latch onto each other when articulated out loud with someone else. Wandering, illogical detours become a pattern, an inner tapestry of creative and wonderfully glorious madness.

In other words, I can’t sit isolated on a log and think clever thoughts. They just fall to the ground and die. My thinking happens in three ways: via pen, keyboard, or the mouth-to-mouth method.

So what happens when you combine them? I’ve had the answer for a couple of weeks now…

We’re testing something new with Friday: voice conversations. I was skeptical at first. How corny is it to chat with a fox? On your lunch walk? Out loud into — what exactly — the void? And is there even a need for a feature like that?

And yes. There is. I know that now. It’s a total game-changer.

A scenario from yesterday: I’m walking (with legs and feet) to a meeting, a fleeting embryo of a Substack article floats by, I pull up Friday’s voice feature on my phone, chat for a bit, get a response that expands my thinking, bounce it back and forth a few times, get some additional ideas, and put together a rough outline — verbally, on the go (when I do my best thinking!).

“Can you summarise and save a memory of our conversation and email it to me tomorrow around lunch? I’ll write it then.”

“Absolutely! Consider it done! Enjoy your walk.”

This is a feature we’re still only testing. One I was skeptical about. And now can’t live without.

Corny? No. The opposite. It’s full blown: Carpe the thought!

Can’t wait for you to try it yourselves...

It has made my brain expand with approximately 200%.