4. Do Something Else

In the fourth step of finding an idea you simply have to do exactly as the title of this chapter suggests: Forget about it and do something else.

Go for a run. Do the dishes. Decide on a new topic and start gathering information for that topic. Just do something that will keep your mind off of your topic and let your subconsciousness work in peace. Trust the process and let all the information ferment in the back of your head.

You know how a good stew takes hours and hours of simmering to get to its mouthwatering flavor? Has sitting in front of the pot and watching it simmer ever sped up the process?

Nope.

So do something else with your time.

This has several advantages: Your mind will, more of often than not, surprise you with a good idea for a joke, or even a joke itself. If not, a pause will give you the ability to see your work with fresh eyes. Which in turn means new angles, new connections and new Joke Ideas and jokes.

Or it will at least give you renewed energy to gather even more information.

Now the pertinent question in this chapter becomes: When? When should you leave your topic alone?

After an hour? After two hours? When you are hitting a wall? Or when you are so exhausted that your brain feels like curdled milk that has been sitting in the sun on a hot June afternoon? Or is it more after a day or several days or several weeks?

The answer is: It depends.

Generally keep in mind what Greg McKewon, author of the book “Effortless” says:

“Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow.”

That being said it depends. It depends on the Topic, on your experience, your deadline, on the size of your project. You won’t need as much research when you are looking for one joke. But ten or twenty jokes? You will need to keep at it longer. Eventually you will just get a feel for it.

But in the beginning a good rule of thumb is to quit only after having postponed quitting two times. The first time you want to quit, acknowledge the feeling and continue you working for another 25 minutes.

If the feeling is still there, try to do another 15 minutes or so. If after that you still haven’t found a groove, stop for the day.

It probably is time to stop and go do something else.