Timesheets and the subconscious mind.

Not that long ago I read a book by Nobel Prize-winner and Psychiatrist, Eric R. Kandel. It was called “The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present.” And while some of it—complex neuroscience--galloped over my head, much of it was pointed and interesting to me. 

 

That said, though much of Kandel's work was beyond me (though his views on Klimt, Kokoschka and Schiele are worth the price of admission) I learned a lot from "The Age of Insight." I learned for instance that it's ok that I do my best work when I'm asleep.

 

That's right. I'm lucky enough to dream television scripts, headlines and even full body copy. I dream manifestos. I dream last minute saves and, what I think are big ideas.

 

Kandel says in "The Age of Insight," that I'm not crazy. The subconscious mind works when you least expect it. Mine works best--not when I'm ensconced in a bone-headed open-plan office that's noisier (and dirtier) than Port Authority. Mine works best when I'm asleep.

 

By the way it's been claimed that Mozart could compose a whole symphony in his head, orchestrate it, then go to his clavichord and tinkle it out on the ivories, playing the whole opus note for note.

 

In the spirit of systematically eliminating all down-time, of making every breathing moment billable, in the spirit of keeping you tethered by synthetic beeps, blips and flashing lights the au courant agency has folded, spindled and mutilated our creative selves.

 

It's more important to put down your hours on a timesheet than to put your ideas down on paper.

 

Now, I'm going to bed. I've got some thinking to do.