Stop trying to be productive (your brain will thank you)

I’m a big Apple Notes guy, but my note-taking system has a big flaw.

I’ve got hundreds of notes.

Book insights. Podcast gems. Random shower thoughts. Client breakthrough.

But Apple Notes search, despite those Cupertino mega dollars, is dumb.

Try this and you’ll see why:

Create a note called doorbell.

Search for “doorbell” and Notes will find the term.

Next, search “door” and it’ll find that too.

Now, search for “bell”.

Nothing.

You and I know these words are related, but Apple Notes doesn’t.

It can’t make creative connections between separate ideas or concepts.

I’m not here to criticise Apple Notes and hawk another app instead. I’ve tried dozens of them. Search in 9/10 note-taking apps struggles with linking simple concepts, let alone complicated ones.

Neither can you if your calendar and To Do List is packed with open loops.

Creative breakthroughs happen when your brain has enough white space to connect idea one, idea two, three, four and five.

Even if idea five has nothing to do with one.

But if you’re sprinting from client call to content creation to email responses without breathing room, your brain never gets to play connect-the-dots.

That’s why your best ideas show up in the shower. Or on a long walk. Or during that boring meeting where you’re supposed to be paying attention.

Your brain needs boredom to find random connections.

When it gets it, content creation is so much easier… no AI required.

All my biggest ideas came during white space:

White space doesn’t feel like work.

I came up with an idea for my book I Can’t Believe I’m Dad! While in the playground with our four-year-old.

Pivoting my business towards a newsletter-first model? I thought of that while on a 3-hour bike ride through the Wicklow mountains in Ireland.

An outline for my AI course? I was tinkering with a new AI model one Friday evening, after work.

I wasn’t “working.” I was giving my brain white space to connect dots I didn’t know existed.

Some creators convince themselves that white space is a sign of laziness. It’s not. It’s where the actual work happens.

Do you want to structure your day so you have white space for creative breakthroughs? I teach the exact system inside a new challenge. Reply “WHITE SPACE” for early access.