For the last three weeks, I’ve been living in a seaside town, just south of Dublin, in Ireland. The view of the Dublin Bay and the ocean has been the perfect setting for breakthrough thinking. So much so that it compelled me to revise my morning routine so that I could include a 90 minute walking and thinking session by the seaside.

Every morning, after I do my priming exercise, home workout routine, read, and write, I go out. I start by running to the coffee shop for a bonus workout. Once there, I get either a flat white or cappuccino. Then I take my drink over to a spot right by the water where I can sit down.

I turn off whatever podcast or audiobook I was listening to and I sit in silence with my coffee.

What I do next is what has unlocked my breakthrough thinking each and every time.

I ask myself one question that gets my mind thinking in directions that I would not otherwise be able to control on my own during the day. This leads me to discover solutions to problems or questions I was stuck on a few days or the week before.

I write everything down as it flows through and out of me; I don’t attempt to control the thoughts, I simply let them go where they want to go. For moments I close my eyes, other times I’m just staring at the glistening water reflecting the bright sun. I look at the beautiful rocks and coast, the homes along the coast, and listen to the sea gulls and other birds flying around.

One breakthrough after another, I type them up in my Notes app. I don’t judge the ideas, I don’t try to think more deeply about them, I just write them down. I’ll figure out what to do with them later.

When I’m done, I think to myself, where the heck did those ideas come from?

Turns out, they were deep inside of me. I just needed to give them the time and space to get out.

And it all starts with one question…

What do I want?