Tag: Random Thought of the Day

During my recent run, I was really pushing myself mentally to keep from slowing to a walk. I read about several running tricks to help push through that urge to slow down. Pump your arms more, pick landmarks to reach, occupy your mind and focus less on the distance. It was thinking about distance that made me think of some advice my dad once gave me a long time ago. I was your typical blue-collar youth, meaning yard work was a regular chore. I remember one particular day I was raking the back yard. The task felt daunting. I would randomly stop and stare at how much of the yard remained. Apparently my dad noticed this so, being a seasoned landscaper, he came out and gave me some advice. He said:

Stop focusing on how much you still have left to do. Only focus on what you’re doing now and it will go a lot faster.

He was right, as parents usually are, and that advice stuck with me. It’s sage advice for anything you are doing in life and another trick I use when I’m pushing myself to make it “just one more block” before slowing down.

Today’s Random thought is probably more pertinent to a specific group of people. Particularly to those who work in IT related fields. I call it a curse of professionalism that we can never turn our brains off. In my case, and it’s possibly true for others, I solve many a coding conundrums when I’m not sitting at the computer. I often have moments of clarity while out on a jog (which is the most recent of my epiphanies); I even solve problems while walking back to my car just after leaving work.

Our subconscious solves problems because our minds are distracted or when we are feeling relaxed. Apparently it’s called “incubating the problem” and it’s because our subconscious continues to solve problems long after we stop working on it. Of course the most annoying thing is that I am rarely near a computer when I solve the problem. It then becomes an exercise in memory retention. This also often happens to me when I’m in a completely unrelated conversation. I have been known to stop mid-sentence with a light bulb above my head. I think, probably the most unusual place this happens to me is while I am taking a shower.

How often does this happen to you? Where is the most unusual place it’s happened to you?

So I was out for a jog on a rather warm day; therefore I’m alone with my thoughts, again. We all know that no good can come from that. I am drenched in sweat after 3 miles when its 85 degrees and humid. On the final leg of my run through my neighborhood I think to myself “a jump in a pool right now would feel amazing!”. Then I begin to wonder …

Imagine you are just sitting in your house, facing your backyard with a sparkling swimming pool. Perhaps you are watching TV or just enjoying a book when you notice this sweaty guy walk into your backyard and just fall into your pool like a shot stormtrooper. It would be an interesting story to tell at the next holiday gathering. Or it would be a great story to tell how you met if both of you were single. Honestly, I don’t know what I would do. I would probably go out and see if the person were all right (and to make sure they’re not dead). I watch way too many crime dramas and would not want some poor shooting victim or some poisoned sod falling dead into my pool.

What would you do, if that neighbor were you?