Summary

when was the last time you had a genuinely good idea? not a maintenance thought. a real idea. for most people, way too long ago. here’s a tool that fixes that.

1. morning pages. from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness, every morning. doesn’t matter what you write. the act of writing is the work.

2. it clears the foam. your brain is full of low-level noise. emails, reminders, anxieties, replays of yesterday. the foam covers the deeper ideas. morning pages skim the foam off.

3. it plants seeds. the questions you write in the morning get worked on by your subconscious all day. ideas surface in the shower because you watered them at 6 a.m.

4. the reticular activating system is your brain’s filter. it decides what you notice and what you don’t. when you journal about a problem, you tell the RAS to flag anything related. then you start seeing answers everywhere.

5. seven days. that’s the trial. write three pages every morning for a week and tell me you don’t have new ideas by day five.

your best ideas are already in there. you just have to clear the foam. try harder.

Transcript

intro to the concept of good ideas

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. All right, when’s the last time you had a good idea? And I mean, in any capacity, just start thinking about it. When’s the last time you had a good idea for your life, for your business, for your family?

Doesn’t matter. Was it yesterday, today, five years ago? That’s what I want to talk about today. Let’s talk about where good ideas come from. I’m Jerred Moon. This is the Better Human Business Podcast. And before we jump in, don’t forget to go subscribe to the Try Harder newsletter. You can tell every podcast I’m pushing it because I’m trying hard.

try harder newsletter plug

I’m trying hard to make it an amazing, badass newsletter that’s worth reading, worth subscribing to. So you can go to jerred.com, J-E-R-R-E-D.com, and you will get access to the newsletter. You can subscribe right there on the homepage. It’s a newsletter that’ll build you, your business, and I teach you how to try harder.

But enough of that. Let’s get into the podcast for today. So in episode 39 of the Better Human Business Podcast, I published a longer episode, about an hour long, and it was about how I rapidly grew my business, how I went from gradual growth to sudden growth. And I’m not going to rehash all that. If you want to jump into more of that, you can go listen to episode 39.

And in that episode, something I mentioned, I talk about journaling, and more specifically, I talk about Morning Pages as a journaling strategy by Julia Cameron. If you don’t know who Julia Cameron is, she is the best-selling author of more than 40 books. Pretty creative, if you ask me. She’s done fiction, she’s done non-fiction, she’s done poetry, she’s written songs, she’s done film, playwright, she’s done basically everything.

discussion of my rapid business growth

Very creative. And she also wrote the book The Artist’s Way, which I do recommend. It’s a pretty good book if you are into the creative side of things, and that’s been translated into 40 languages, and has sold over 5 million copies to date. Pretty good book. She’s also a pretty impressive person. In The Artist’s Way, she talks about Morning Pages.

And so here’s the definition from Julia Cameron. Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages. They are not high art. They are not even writing. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind, and they are for your eyes only.

Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand. Do not overthink Morning Pages. Just put three pages of anything on the page, and then do three more pages tomorrow. And she could not have given a better description, because I’ve talked about Morning Pages with several people, or I’ll mention it on a podcast or something, I’ll get messages about it or emails.

explanation of morning pages

And people way overthink Morning Pages. They’re like, well, how do you do it? What do you do? How do you do it? You just write. I would argue that it doesn’t even have to be three pages. You might be writing on your iPad, just set a time limit. I’m going to write for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, something like that.

And I’ve done that as well. And I don’t personally do Morning Pages every single day, but I do it every once in a while. And I would say nearly every time I do it, I get an idea, going back to the whole topic of why I’m talking about this stuff. Where do ideas come from? Now, it may not be a fully formed idea, but it’s a seed.

And the journaling technique is just enough to plant the seed in your mind. And then that will grow over time. And the more you do it, the better you get at coming up with ideas and fleshing these things out. How can you do it? Like, what’s the framework here? Well, you do exactly as Julia Cameron says, you just start writing the first two pages or first 10, 15 minutes.

how to do morning pages

They could honestly be just complaints and annoyances. You could just be complaining about your day. Now, I would recommend trying to remove some negativity from your life. But I get it. We all have like annoyances and frustrations. So really, what’s ever in your brain is what you start writing down.

You don’t write down and think, oh, I’m trying to get this amazing idea today. Let me start thinking of ideas. No, you just start writing. The word she uses in her definition of this is stream of consciousness writing. So it’s really whatever is in your brain, you start writing down. Just think about how erratic our brains can be sometimes.

So you’re just writing down anything that comes to your mind. Anything that comes to your mind. If it’s a thought, it goes on the page. Again, you’re not crafting art. You’re not crafting content that you want to publish publicly. You don’t need anyone else to read it. You just go. And here’s what I find when I do it.

why journaling helps generate ideas

Usually, I will clear my mind. Seriously, all those thoughts that sling around my brain chill out once they get on a page. You know, maybe I’m strategizing something. Maybe I’m thinking a lot about something, going back and forth on something. Then the pages might turn into something. A worthwhile idea, something of meaning, something I can use.

And that happens pretty frequently when I get in the habit of doing morning pages. And I highly, highly recommend it. Now why does it work? Why do we think that it works? Without getting too woo-woo, this is my theory. If you’re putting good data in your brain, like if you’re listening to this podcast or maybe reading the Try Harder newsletter, wink, wink.

Or you’re just reading really any solid books or you’re participating in coaching programs, you’re talking with mentors, anything like that, the more good data that comes in, the more good data that will come out. That’s my honest opinion. The more you stuff your brain with good, the more it will come out.

the reticular activating system (ras)

And on the more scientific side of things, I talk about this in my book, Killing Comfort, but there’s something called the reticular activating system, and it’s a network of neurons located in your brain stem. Now you think of this as the ultimate gatekeeper or the brain’s bouncer, if you will. So it decides what information is important enough to get your attention and what gets booted to the curb.

Because any moment throughout the day, our senses are literally bombarded with more information that we can consciously handle or process. And what the RAS does is it filters out the noise so you’re not overwhelmed and you can focus on what actually matters. So it’s like having a personal assistant to sort through your emails, flagging the important ones and junking the rest.

So just put that into context if you’re like, well, does that really work? Yes, it works. So if you’re in a crowded restaurant, as an example I like to use, it’s just a dull roar when you walk in, right? You know, lots of people, you hear glasses clanking, conversations, but your brain just perceives it as this dull roar.

challenge to try morning pages for 7 days

But in reality, your brain can hear and perceive everything. If it wanted to, it would put you in an insane asylum, but you can hear every single conversation. You can hear every fork hitting the table, every plate, you know, hitting the table, all these kinds of things. All those noises come through, but your brain just kind of categorize it as, hey, this is unimportant stuff.

Let’s just, we hear a dull roar. That’s all we hear. But then if someone in that same situation, you’re looking for your friends and they’re like, hey, Jerred, Jerred, I would hear that immediately. My brain would be like, oh, we know Jerred. People call this entity Jerred, so that’s an important word to me, right?

That will come in. That will go through to my brain, my conscious brain and be like, oh, here’s my friend saying my name. Same thing when you buy a new car and then you realize how many of those cars are out on the road, right? You’re just starting to notice it, even though they were already there.

So journaling, in my opinion, is a way to decide and guide your brain on what gets filtered in and what doesn’t. It’s how you can train yourself to come up with good ideas. Because we all have this surface layer crap just constantly, like to compare it to a beer, you know, it’s like the foam at the top.

You know, once you kind of get down from that, you have what’s drinkable, what’s good. But I feel like our brain is constantly wrapped in this foam and we have to do something to get through the foam. And what’s really good, well, how powerful our brains actually are. And I think journaling kind of breaks through, it penetrates that, it gets rid of the foam.

And the foam that encapsulates our brain is all the crap that we have going on today, social media posts, you know, whether or not, you know, we like our job or hate our job, thinking about how many tasks we have to accomplish this week. That’s the foam. But your brain is a lot more powerful than the foam, than what’s around the edges.

And you have a lot of good ideas in there, especially if you’re putting good data in. So I think that’s how this works. Again, this is just my opinion. And it’s something that works for me. So if you’re looking to come up with more impactful, powerful ideas for your business, for your life, for your family, try morning pages.

Try it for seven straight days. Do it every day for seven straight days. The first couple of days, you might not come up with much, especially if you’re brand new to this kind of thing or brand new to journaling in general. But just get it out there. Try it for seven full days and see if you start to come up with some really good ideas.

I know a lot of the best ideas I’ve ever had have come from doing this kind of practice. I’m talking about big strategic moves in business and in life come from this kind of practice. So give it a try. It’s very powerful. It’s very, very impactful. Because you can sit around, you can hope, and you can wait for a good idea to come.

Or you can try harder and make the good ideas come to you. --- title: “Where do good ideas come from?” episode: 85 published: 2024-03-07 podcast: better. podcast tags: - betterpodcast ---

Where do good ideas come from?

Episode: 85 Published: 2024-03-07 Podcast: better. podcast

#betterpodcast

In this episode, Jerred explores the origin of good ideas, emphasizing the power of journaling as a tool for creativity and problem-solving. He highlights the Morning Pages technique from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way,” which involves stream-of-consciousness writing to clear the mind and plant the seeds of new ideas. Jerred argues that by regularly engaging in this practice, individuals can break through mental clutter and access deeper, more meaningful thoughts. He also discusses the role of the reticular activating system in filtering information, suggesting that journaling can help guide the brain to focus on what truly matters.

Key takeaways: - Morning Pages, a journaling technique by Julia Cameron, involves writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness content to clear mental clutter and stimulate creativity. - Jerred suggests that good ideas often emerge from the practice of journaling, as it helps to plant the seeds of thought that can grow over time. - The reticular activating system acts as the brain’s filter, allowing important information to surface while discarding the irrelevant, and journaling can help guide this process. - By consistently engaging in journaling, individuals can train their brains to focus on meaningful ideas and break through the “foam” of everyday distractions. - Jerred encourages trying Morning Pages for seven consecutive days to experience its impact on generating impactful ideas for business and personal life.

The most impactful business is the business that genuinely improves another human, a better human business. And to grow a business like this, you have to continually improve yourself. This podcast is a documentation of that thesis, scaling businesses and also personal growth. My goal is for you to shortcut this journey.

So if you’re ready to try hard, subscribe. If you like what you’re hearing, please share and enjoy. All right, when’s the last time you had a good idea? And I mean, in any capacity, just start thinking about it. When’s the last time you had a good idea for your life, for your business, for your family?

Doesn’t matter. Was it yesterday, today, five years ago? That’s what I want to talk about today. Let’s talk about where good ideas come from. I’m Jerred Moon. This is the Better Human Business Podcast. And before we jump in, don’t forget to go subscribe to the Try Harder newsletter. You can tell every podcast I’m pushing it because I’m trying hard.

I’m trying hard to make it an amazing, badass newsletter that’s worth reading, worth subscribing to. So you can go to jerred.com, J-E-R-R-E-D.com, and you will get access to the newsletter. You can subscribe right there on the homepage. It’s a newsletter that’ll build you, your business, and I teach you how to try harder.

But enough of that. Let’s get into the podcast for today. So in episode 39 of the Better Human Business Podcast, I published a longer episode, about an hour long, and it was about how I rapidly grew my business, how I went from gradual growth to sudden growth. And I’m not going to rehash all that. If you want to jump into more of that, you can go listen to episode 39.

And in that episode, something I mentioned, I talk about journaling, and more specifically, I talk about Morning Pages as a journaling strategy by Julia Cameron. If you don’t know who Julia Cameron is, she is the best-selling author of more than 40 books. Pretty creative, if you ask me. She’s done fiction, she’s done non-fiction, she’s done poetry, she’s written songs, she’s done film, playwright, she’s done basically everything.

Very creative. And she also wrote the book The Artist’s Way, which I do recommend. It’s a pretty good book if you are into the creative side of things, and that’s been translated into 40 languages, and has sold over 5 million copies to date. Pretty good book. She’s also a pretty impressive person. In The Artist’s Way, she talks about Morning Pages.

And so here’s the definition from Julia Cameron. Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages. They are not high art. They are not even writing. They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind, and they are for your eyes only.

Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand. Do not overthink Morning Pages. Just put three pages of anything on the page, and then do three more pages tomorrow. And she could not have given a better description, because I’ve talked about Morning Pages with several people, or I’ll mention it on a podcast or something, I’ll get messages about it or emails.

And people way overthink Morning Pages. They’re like, well, how do you do it? What do you do? How do you do it? You just write. I would argue that it doesn’t even have to be three pages. You might be writing on your iPad, just set a time limit. I’m going to write for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, something like that.

And I’ve done that as well. And I don’t personally do Morning Pages every single day, but I do it every once in a while. And I would say nearly every time I do it, I get an idea, going back to the whole topic of why I’m talking about this stuff. Where do ideas come from? Now, it may not be a fully formed idea, but it’s a seed.

And the journaling technique is just enough to plant the seed in your mind. And then that will grow over time. And the more you do it, the better you get at coming up with ideas and fleshing these things out. How can you do it? Like, what’s the framework here? Well, you do exactly as Julia Cameron says, you just start writing the first two pages or first 10, 15 minutes.

They could honestly be just complaints and annoyances. You could just be complaining about your day. Now, I would recommend trying to remove some negativity from your life. But I get it. We all have like annoyances and frustrations. So really, what’s ever in your brain is what you start writing down.

You don’t write down and think, oh, I’m trying to get this amazing idea today. Let me start thinking of ideas. No, you just start writing. The word she uses in her definition of this is stream of consciousness writing. So it’s really whatever is in your brain, you start writing down. Just think about how erratic our brains can be sometimes.

So you’re just writing down anything that comes to your mind. Anything that comes to your mind. If it’s a thought, it goes on the page. Again, you’re not crafting art. You’re not crafting content that you want to publish publicly. You don’t need anyone else to read it. You just go. And here’s what I find when I do it.

Usually, I will clear my mind. Seriously, all those thoughts that sling around my brain chill out once they get on a page. You know, maybe I’m strategizing something. Maybe I’m thinking a lot about something, going back and forth on something. Then the pages might turn into something. A worthwhile idea, something of meaning, something I can use.

And that happens pretty frequently when I get in the habit of doing morning pages. And I highly, highly recommend it. Now why does it work? Why do we think that it works? Without getting too woo-woo, this is my theory. If you’re putting good data in your brain, like if you’re listening to this podcast or maybe reading the Try Harder newsletter, wink, wink.

Or you’re just reading really any solid books or you’re participating in coaching programs, you’re talking with mentors, anything like that, the more good data that comes in, the more good data that will come out. That’s my honest opinion. The more you stuff your brain with good, the more it will come out.

And on the more scientific side of things, I talk about this in my book, Killing Comfort, but there’s something called the reticular activating system, and it’s a network of neurons located in your brain stem. Now you think of this as the ultimate gatekeeper or the brain’s bouncer, if you will. So it decides what information is important enough to get your attention and what gets booted to the curb.

Because any moment throughout the day, our senses are literally bombarded with more information that we can consciously handle or process. And what the RAS does is it filters out the noise so you’re not overwhelmed and you can focus on what actually matters. So it’s like having a personal assistant to sort through your emails, flagging the important ones and junking the rest.

So just put that into context if you’re like, well, does that really work? Yes, it works. So if you’re in a crowded restaurant, as an example I like to use, it’s just a dull roar when you walk in, right? You know, lots of people, you hear glasses clanking, conversations, but your brain just perceives it as this dull roar.

But in reality, your brain can hear and perceive everything. If it wanted to, it would put you in an insane asylum, but you can hear every single conversation. You can hear every fork hitting the table, every plate, you know, hitting the table, all these kinds of things. All those noises come through, but your brain just kind of categorize it as, hey, this is unimportant stuff.

Let’s just, we hear a dull roar. That’s all we hear. But then if someone in that same situation, you’re looking for your friends and they’re like, hey, Jerred, Jerred, I would hear that immediately. My brain would be like, oh, we know Jerred. People call this entity Jerred, so that’s an important word to me, right?

That will come in. That will go through to my brain, my conscious brain and be like, oh, here’s my friend saying my name. Same thing when you buy a new car and then you realize how many of those cars are out on the road, right? You’re just starting to notice it, even though they were already there.

So journaling, in my opinion, is a way to decide and guide your brain on what gets filtered in and what doesn’t. It’s how you can train yourself to come up with good ideas. Because we all have this surface layer crap just constantly, like to compare it to a beer, you know, it’s like the foam at the top.

You know, once you kind of get down from that, you have what’s drinkable, what’s good. But I feel like our brain is constantly wrapped in this foam and we have to do something to get through the foam. And what’s really good, well, how powerful our brains actually are. And I think journaling kind of breaks through, it penetrates that, it gets rid of the foam.

And the foam that encapsulates our brain is all the crap that we have going on today, social media posts, you know, whether or not, you know, we like our job or hate our job, thinking about how many tasks we have to accomplish this week. That’s the foam. But your brain is a lot more powerful than the foam, than what’s around the edges.

And you have a lot of good ideas in there, especially if you’re putting good data in. So I think that’s how this works. Again, this is just my opinion. And it’s something that works for me. So if you’re looking to come up with more impactful, powerful ideas for your business, for your life, for your family, try morning pages.

Try it for seven straight days. Do it every day for seven straight days. The first couple of days, you might not come up with much, especially if you’re brand new to this kind of thing or brand new to journaling in general. But just get it out there. Try it for seven full days and see if you start to come up with some really good ideas.

I know a lot of the best ideas I’ve ever had have come from doing this kind of practice. I’m talking about big strategic moves in business and in life come from this kind of practice. So give it a try. It’s very powerful. It’s very, very impactful. Because you can sit around, you can hope, and you can wait for a good idea to come.

Or you can try harder and make the good ideas come to you.