Thread by @ryangum

∙ Yesterday by The Beatles
∙ Single Ladies by Beyonce
∙ Your Song by Elton John
∙ Skyfall by Adele
∙ Royals by Lorde

What do they have in common? 👇🧵

They were all conceived and written in less than 1 hour.

Is this the result of creative genius that's only accessible to superstars? Unlikely. It's more probable that they were tapping into a level of creativity that only exists when striking while the iron's hot.

The most passionate you'll ever be about an idea is moment the epiphany strikes.

@david_perell calls this the magic moment, "When The Magic Moment arrives, get to work. The moment right after a major epiphany is the only moment in the creative process where the rush of epiphany trumps the fear of rejection... Start creating when the rush of epiphany arrives."

The longer you wait between idea and action, the less passionate creativity you can tap into. You've already done the fun part of exploring the problem, and all that's left is the work. You've got yourself worked up without the payoff.

@danielgross calls this Improvisational Productivity, and suggests "The longer you think about a task without doing it, the less novel it becomes to do. Writing things in your to-do list for later... comes at the cost: you’ve now converted an interesting idea into work."

How can you take action on this concept? Here's one way:

When kicking off a new project, @ShaanVP suggests you should never leave the room without immediately taking action on 1 hour of work, "I ask myself: 'What's the 1 hour version of my plan?"

"What's something I could do in the next hour that would inch me closer to my first happy customer?' Then I immediately do that thing. Momentum is the lifeblood of any project, so I throw myself headfirst into creating initial momentum."

In reality, we can't control when ideas strike.

If you can't take immediate action, @danielgross suggests to "somewhat counter-intuitively, not think about the task until [you're] ready to execute it."

"I don’t let myself pursue any idea I have all day... but instead, I try to make my actual work appear as interesting as a new idea by minimizing the cognitive state buildup I have until I am ready to fully accomplish the task at hand."

The longer you wait, the less fun and more painful the work will be. Don't get yourself worked up on an idea until you're ready to take action.

So strike while the iron's hot. Avoid blue balls for the brain.