We’ve all slept on a problem and had it sort itself out by morning. But that’s only a small part of what the brain on nighttime autopilot can do. Paul McCartney famously said that he came up with the melody for “Yesterday” in a dream; Elias Howe, the inventor of the sewing machine, is said to have solved the problem of the machine’s needle when he dreamed of an attack by warriors carrying spears with holes in the tips.

If you’re wrestling with a problem, prime your brain before you’re about to hit the hay:

Barrett’s studies suggest that engaging in some type of pre-bedtime priming—contemplating a problem you’d like to solve—increases the likelihood that sleep will bring some answers. Up to a third of the subjects in her sample group reported that priming had helped them find a solution that had eluded them during the day.

In a wide-ranging interview with GQ Ricky Gervais, comedian and creator of The Office, discusses dealing with notoriety, critics and how fame has (or hasn’t) changed him. In this excerpt, he’s asked how he dealt with one particularly seething critic writing about his show Derek:

GQ: It did get some fairly savage British reviews.
Ricky Gervais: It was the usual suspects, the same four or five journalists who have hated everything. It bored me, but it didn’t bother me. I could have predicted what they’d say.

GQ: But when someone says “vile, cynical, and dishonest”? Or an “appalling piece of comedy hackwork”?
Ricky Gervais: [chuckling] Both of those made me laugh when you said them. “Vile, cynical…” [laughing more] That’s something you’d say about Charles Manson, not a bloke who made a twenty-three-minute sitcom! “Vile, cynical, and dishonest”! “What’d he do?” “Did a sitcom…” [falls on his side to the sofa, he is laughing so hard] Cunts!

GQ: But can you just brush it off?
Ricky Gervais: Yeah. Who said it?

GQ: I can’t remember specifically right now. 
Ricky Gervais: Right. But who wrote and directed Derek?

GQ: [puzzled] You did.
Ricky Gervais: You remember that, don’t you?

Read the entire interview at GQ.

Lots of us are willing to work when we’re feeling inspired, but what about when you’re not? According to Seth Godin, the true creative professional distinguishes himself by doing work even when he’s not in the mood.

Here’s what Godin has to say in an interview for our new 99U book:

Everybody who does creative work has figured out how to deal with their own demons to get their work done. There is no evidence that setting up your easel like Van Gogh makes you paint better. Tactics are idiosyncratic. But strategies are universal, and there are a lot of talented folks who are not succeeding the way they want to because their strategies are broken.

The strategy is simple, I think. The strategy is to have a practice, and what it means to have a practice is to regularly and reliably do the work in a habitual way.

There are many ways you can signify to yourself that you are doing your practice. For example, some people wear a white lab coat or a particular pair of glasses, or always work in a specific place—in doing these things, they are professionalizing their art.

The notion that I do my work here, now, like this, even when I do not feel like it, and especially when I do not feel like it, is very important. Because lots and lots of people are creative when they feel like it, but you are only going to become a professional if you do it when you don’t feel like it. And that emotional waiver is why this is your work and not your hobby.

This is an excerpt (and interior photograph) from Manage Your Day-to-Day, the new book from 99U, with contributions from Seth Godin, Leo Babauta, Steven Pressfield, Dan Ariely, and many more.

Creative Something’s guide to getting things done. Reminds us of this Herb Kelleher quote.

Great inventors – and great inventions – solve problems, address real needs, and make the world work better. To recognize the next generation of world-changing creators, we created the ALVA Award in partnership with GE, which takes its name from the legendary inventor who inspired us: Thomas Alva Edison.

This year, we were honored to award the ALVA to Sebastian Thrun, who joined us live at the 99U Conference for an incredible presentation outlining his approach to making ideas happen. Along the way, Sebastian talked about the importance of setting wildly ambitious goals, embracing failure as an opportunity to learn, iterating as fast as you can, and giving your team members the autonomy they need to invent.

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Watch Sebastian’s 99U Talk:

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Photos from Sebastian’s Presentation:

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Learn more about the ALVA Award, and our past winners, at www.99u.com/alva.

In 2005, David Foster Wallace gave a painfully honest commencement speech, urging listeners to live life mindfully and to have empathy for our fellow humans. Above is a ten-minute excerpt of the speech which you can read in its entirety here. Some choice excerpts:

Most days, if you’re aware enough to give yourself a choice, you can choose to look differently at this fat, dead-eyed, over-made-up lady who just screamed at her kid in the checkout line. Maybe she’s not usually like this. Maybe she’s been up three straight nights holding the hand of a husband who is dying of bone cancer. Or maybe this very lady is the low-wage clerk at the motor vehicle department, who just yesterday helped your spouse resolve a horrific, infuriating, red-tape problem through some small act of bureaucratic kindness. Of course, none of this is likely, but it’s also not impossible.

It just depends what you what to consider. If you’re automatically sure that you know what reality is, and you are operating on your default setting, then you, like me, probably won’t consider possibilities that aren’t annoying and miserable. But if you really learn how to pay attention, then you will know there are other options.

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You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.

via Daring Fireball

Carefully consider the motives that are driving our decisions, and examine whether they are driven by the bitter feelings resulting from where we stand in comparisons to others.

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On a wide range of dimensions, from how trustworthy we are to how good looking others find us to be, we often compare ourselves to our peers to evaluate where we stand. These types of social comparisons can lead to irrational behaviors. For instance, we may accept a job offer paying a lower salary than another that pays more but where other people like us make more money than we would.

Read the entire interview here.

Hosain Rahman

Photo: MACKME.COM

Founder & CEO /// Jawbone

Hosain Rahman was in a difficult position after the first version of his company’s product, the Jawbone Up bracelet, ran into grave problems—ultimately resulting in a recall—during its launch in December 2011. He and his team had to do some serious soul-searching about how to handle the snafu and how to keep moving forward. Ultimately, they decided to rally by “locking themselves in a room for six months” and re-emerging with a stellar v2 product. Here’s what he learned in the process:

• Cut through the noise and revisit your core principles. At any crossroads, it’s important to go back to square one and ask yourself, “Why am I creating this? Is it still important?” For Jawbone, the goal was to make a wearable computer. Knowing they were still on track helped Rahman motivate his team to adjust and execute.
• Don’t levitate before you can crawl. Rahman warns against shipping too soon. “We were all living in the potential of what this product could be. We were levitating before we could crawl or walk.”
• Design is a consideration of the details. Although the concept will be your beacon throughout, truly great design considers all the combinations of how a product can be used – and designs a solution for each one.

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Nikhil Arora

Photo: MACKME.COM

Co-Founder /// Back to the Roots

Nikhil Arora truly believes that business can be used for good, and his company, Back to the Roots, an urban mushroom farm in Oakland, California, is all about giving back. Arora shared what drives him to pursue work that matters:

• In marketing, transparent is the new clever. The mushrooms grown using the Back to the Roots kit can sometimes come out looking… funky. Arora and his company chose to embrace the ugly by unabashedly sharing photos of misshapen mushrooms. As a result, a large community developed around sharing photos of their product, and they realized they had a highly enthusiastic, untapped demographic—kids.
• Even in business, the more you give, the more you get. Back to the Roots is constantly teaching sustainability workshops, giving away products via their Facebook page, and donating a portion of their profits to charity. Arora argued that the new relationship for businesses isn’t a one-way street, it’s a two-way street: The more you give to your community, the more you get back.

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Heather Payne

Photo: MACKME.COM

Founder /// Ladies Learning Code

Ladies Learning Code, a Canadian not-for-profit, is all about empowering and educating young women interested in computer programming and web development. The movement was started from scratch, and founder Heather Payne shared some tips for starting something new:

• Create momentum by committing to a timeline publicly. In the early days, Ladies Learning to code committed to organize 1 workshop a month. One of the best ways to create and harness momentum with your idea early on, is to share your timeline publicly. Once others are expecting an update or a release by a certain date, there’s no turning back.
• Let your team find you. By liberally sharing your ideas, you’ll find that likeminded people will flock to you. This way, you’re more likely to end up with a team that shares your passion, values, and truly understands what you’re trying to accomplish.

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Joshua Davis

Photo: MACKME.COM

Owner /// Joshua Davis Studio

What happens after the “I did it!” moment? A few years ago, Joshua Davis, the renowned designer and Code and Theory creative director, was experiencing explosive success. But while he was regularly being commissioned for pieces by clients like Apple and BMW, he was feeling uninspired and couldn’t find a new direction. “That moment of being amazed by the unknown had left me.” Davis shared how to avoid “the sluggishness of the comfortable”:

• “Escaping success is how I stay in a state of wonder.” The downfall of the “I did it” moment is its vibe of finality. “Success is not final.” Each of us must always remain a student.
• Fear is where the greatest thinking occurs. Davis got out of his creative rut “by taking on a project I didn’t know I could pull off.” Diving into creative challenges that are scary and uncomfortable forces you to do your best work.
• Never let success get in the way of your creativity. Davis cautions that the industry will want to replicate rather than innovate, so while you may have to do familiar work for clients, push yourself to develop your voice and direction in personal projects.

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Josh Reich

Photo: MACKME.COM

CEO & Co-Founder /// Simple

Josh Reich, co-founder and CEO of Simple, embarked upon a herculean task: re-invent the bank to make it an honest, transparent, and “more human” experience. It took several years to build Simple from the ground up. Along the way, his team questioned everything about the current banking process in order to “take it apart and put it back together again.” He shared his learnings on start-ups and teams.

• Design for how people think, not how our current world works. If you start designing your product by improving upon other similar ones, you’re missing an opportunity. Step back to design for how people think – this will revolutionize the product.
• Customers want simplicity. Even when they say they want complexity (like in a bank), doing an exercise like asking “5 why’s” to get to the root of their initial answer will reveal what’s underlying: simplicity.
• “Our design process is that we don’t have a design process.” Don’t structure your team in a certain way just because everyone else does. At Simple, there are no designers, “just a bunch of people who make shit.”

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More 2013 99U Conference Recaps:

Part One: Brené Brown, Cal Newport, Gretchen Rubin, & More
Part Two: A.J. Jacobs, Joe Gebbia, Charlie Todd, & More
Part Three: Ramit Sethi, Leah Busque, Jeff Sheng, & More
Part Four: Hosain Rahman, Josh Reich, Heather Payne, & More

“Visit Japan” is not a task, it’s a project. Fortunately, my old job helped me get good at breaking complex behaviors (or in this case, projects) down into very small, observable, concrete actions. Perhaps “discuss life in Japan with uncle who used to live there” is a doable first step. Maybe “research seasonal weather in Japan” or “find a well-written book on Japanese customs or food” could be other first steps.

As a result the “someday” list becomes a “research” list. “Figure out the answers to these questions and get moving,” says Caolo. “Avoid the clutter and guilt of a Someday/Maybe list and start working toward these projects in the present.”

Word notebooks have a simplified use guide that offers a code of sorts for marking todo lists. Though the code is meant for their notebooks, we’d like to think you can use it on any stationary.