Wednesday, June 03, 2026
True story:
I went to El Salvador two weeks ago for a wedding.
The land of volcanoes and pupusa (a local delicacy) where, according to our guide, there is a government-subsidized pet hospital that charges just $3 per treatment, but only accepts payment in Bitcoin.
How’s that for a fun fact?
Anyhow, as the plane took off and I queued up Secret Lives of Orangutans, fully prepared to chill TF out for a few hours…
A flood of ideas barged in the front door of my psyche and began to pour out of me.
I tried to ignore them at first…
But after a few minutes, I gave in, opened up WhatsApp and began to jot them all down.
New offers…
New ad angles…
New features for EmailStoryselling.ai…
Heck, even a short story idea I have absolutely zero time to write lol.
They all came rushing out of me.
Probably 30 minutes of straight output before it finally quieted down.
What drove this sudden outbreak of ideas?
The fact that I haven’t done much else other than work lately.
I’ve been on the grind with way less unstructured time to just let my thoughts wander.
Yet as soon as I gave my brain a little breathing room at 35,000 feet, it released all these ideas like a kinked garden hose finally straightening out.
A timely reminder that:
Your best ideas don't show up while you’re white-knuckling it at your desk.
They show up the moment you stop and give your subconscious some room to do its job.
In fact, I've come up with most of my best stuff on walks, in the shower, at the gym, and on flights.
All you gotta do is follow this highly-scientific 3-step process:
First, frame the question to your subconscious - and be specific about what you're stuck on.
Second, step away and go do something else entirely.
Finally, come back and expect the answer.
That’s it.
Sounds a little fluffy, I know.
But your brain keeps chewing on the problem in the background while you're off living your life…
And it tends to hand you the answer as soon as you stop looking for it.
The catch is you have to actually step away.
On purpose.
It doesn’t work if you’re staring at the computer screen till your eyes bleed.
So if you’re struggling to come up with a great idea for an email, ad, offer, or piece of content…
Follow those 3 steps and see what happens.
Jim Hamilton
Learn how to build a profitable daily newsletter with Email Storyselling. Read by 5,000+ subscribers.