Thrive Global, Ariana Huffington’s new enterprise, has an interview with Martin Lindstrom (whose biography describes him as a “Change Agent. Brand Futurist. Bestselling Author.”) that touches on exercise, boredom, and their role in creativity.

This discussion of Lindstrom’s morning routine particularly jumped out at me, as I just published an ebook about my own morning routine:

Thrive Global: What’s the first thing you do when you get out of bed?

Martin Lindstrom: Jump into the pool and swim for one hour. I call this my “water moment,” and I’ve literally written all my books while swimming. One notepad in each end — and a lot of dripping wet papers as a result — packed with ideas. I’ve come to realize that we all need “water moments” in our lives: in the shower, while driving, running, or, like me, swimming. It is a 100% uninterrupted time — allowing me to think, reflect, and create free-flying ideas. It is my creative zone and a time I simply cannot live without.

I’ve written before about swimming and creativity, but I haven’t come across someone who keeps a notepad at the end of the pool.

However, Lindstrom isn’t the only one who’s come up with a novel solution to writing down ideas under unusual circumstances. My favorite example is the great German mathematician David Hilbert, who used to do some of his best thinking while working in his garden. But rather than writing down ideas in a notebook, he installed a covered blackboard where he and his assistants could make notes as he walked or worked in the flower beds!

The more serious point is that keeping these kinds of notes is really common. It’s easy to assume you’ll remember a good idea, but you’d be surprised at how fragile they are, and who quickly an active mind wants to dispense with one good idea and move on to the next one. So having a way to record them on the fly is an essential feature of the creative practices and working lives of many creative people, and one that you really should do it yourself– whether it’s on water-soaked papers, in Evernote, in little notebooks, or a blackboard in your garden.