Our mind needs breaks to get the creative juices flowing. If we are too focused on doing things, there is not enough room for the curiosity, the unforeseen and the novelty to hit us. I think we all experienced those surprising moments of discovery while our mind was wandering. David Perell describes this state as the Beer Mode in opposition to the Coffee Mode. A state where you allow yourself a pause from doing in order to wander. He also points out how hard it is for Beer Mode to find its place in a work environment where we need to deliver quickly and regularly. It’s true that Beer Mode is hard to measure and often unproductive but it’s even more true that being non-stop in Coffee Mode is killing our ability to think and find creative solutions to problems. I think that Coffee Mode can’t be productive and fulfilling if there is no place for Beer Mode at some point. And we can’t just replace Beer Mode by the time we spend outside of work, otherwise burnout will be the next step. Beer Mode is part of the work and must have its place at the office.
I very much like this idea and I believe this is even broader than that. You can start something for various reasons, whether it is for fun, out of curiosity or because of a challenge… The most important is not why you started it, but the fact that you simply decided to start and commit to it at some point. The best experiences I had these past 10 years, are the things I decided to start building, reading, learning, … achieved, failed or stopped! Whatever the outcome was, there were lessons to learn that definitely taught me so much about myself. If you are intrigued by something but feel like it is not for you, if something that makes you uncomfortable awakens your curiosity, if you are attracted by something that scares you… These are reasons enough to start doing something about it. Go for it, experience and see what it brings you.
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Wandering at work
Our mind needs breaks to get the creative juices flowing. If we are too focused on doing things, there is not enough room for the curiosity, the unforeseen and the novelty to hit us. I think we all experienced those surprising moments of discovery while our mind was wandering. David Perell describes this state as the Beer Mode in opposition to the Coffee Mode. A state where you allow yourself a pause from doing in order to wander. He also points out how hard it is for Beer Mode to find its place in a work environment where we need to deliver quickly and regularly. It’s true that Beer Mode is hard to measure and often unproductive but it’s even more true that being non-stop in Coffee Mode is killing our ability to think and find creative solutions to problems. I think that Coffee Mode can’t be productive and fulfilling if there is no place for Beer Mode at some point. And we can’t just replace Beer Mode by the time we spend outside of work, otherwise burnout will be the next step. Beer Mode is part of the work and must have its place at the office.