Airports and flights can be noisy. I use five things to create my own bubble: QC45 Bose Headset, iPad, mobile, Amazon Music, and my notebook. The headset with its amazing noise cancellation shuts me from most sounds enabling me to think and not be distracted with all the random sounds and conversations of those around me. The iPad has a lot of books and other reading material. The mobile with the Amazon Music app has a few hundred songs downloaded and available in offline mode; I tend to play them at low volume so while they fill the ears they do not disturb the chain of thinking. And finally, my notebook – in which I write everything that I think.
At a minimum, I need my notebook because I like to write everything as the ideas flow, rather than trying to remember. Long flights give me time to read books and think. In general, I try to avoid doing emails on long flights. For every email I send, I will get one back – and then they all become micro-distractions which I can do without and there is a different time and place to deal with them.
I can create a bubble for myself anywhere. I had to take my parents to the hospital recently for a check-up. My BB with my iPad and notebook helped me during the hour-long waiting time. I did not bother with my mobile for most of the time; it is very easy to see a message, start a conversation, and go down a rabbit hole of useless banter!
The bubble creation works well at conferences also. While most sessions tend to be generally useful, there are times when one ends up having to sit through what is a boring presentation or conversation. It is hard to walk out unless one is seated at the edge of a row. In such situations, I create my own bubble – no headset or music, but just my thoughts and notebook. I see a lot of people around me doing stuff with their phones or sometimes laptops, but they are just not good for a continuous stream of thinking. And that is when ideas come – as one thought leads to another, and so on. I like the notebook because I can write faster than I can type and because I can do much more freehand stuff. An iPad could serve the purpose but it’s simply not the same thing.
Whatever it is that suits you – create a toolkit to ensure you can create your own thinking bubble. While ChatGPT may have all the answers, we still need to read and push our own minds further and beyond.
Also see: The Zone.
