I just went to the toilet.

As I was standing up to go there, I reached out to grab my phone. I wanted to take it with me to have some quality toilet time. You know what I mean: scanning the news, checking up on notifications, having a quick scroll through the Instagram feed.

In that instant I realized that this is one of the dumbest habits I have.

Why?

For one: Toilet time should offer a relaxing break. But I rarely leave the toilet more relaxed. Despite the fact that I relief myself, I also expose myself to a bunch of impulses. And I notice more and more that this constant input from my mobile screen is causing restlessness, distraction and a permanently frowned face.

Secondly and most important: The time spans spent on the toilet have been my most creative and innovative by far. I got my breakthrough insight for my master's thesis while taking a pee. I have come up with at least 5 business ideas while standing in front or sitting on the toilet seat. I can't keep count of the times I ran out of the toilet to a piece of paper to write down the exact words I need for an assignment, or note the building blocks for a new strategy.

Toilet time is not the only time this happens. It also happens to me while running and while driving. It’s in these moments where you focus on a certain kind of physical action that your mind gets some time off. In these moments your minds gets to the perfect intersection of focus and space. It’s at this intersection of focus and space that the magic happens.
You also hear about these moments from other people. You must know someone who has their sparks of genius under the shower, right?

I just realized that I have been suffocating my brains on these critical moments for peace of mind and sparks of genius. No more my friends.