Bet you don’t know this one …
The Portofino Marina is at capacity. Please list, in order,
the next four closest ports to dock your sailboat.
Actually, if you do know that one, you may qualify to be among the lucky few chosen to compete in the Gentathelon.
What’s the Gentathelon?
Better limber up. Because the Gentathelon is a competition where only the snootiest young men run through a gauntlet of mental and physical contests designed to push their gentlemanly sensibilities to the limit.
Participants are judged on their character, patience, and refinement across events that include …
GROOMING:
Apply a slick of pomade to your hair. Then, with your glistening fingertips, secure the delicate clasp of a lady’s necklace.
PENMANSHIP:
Using the length of rope provided, spell “boutonniere” on the ground in cursive.
MIXOLOGY:
Make a cocktail that tastes like summer and garnish using only the flora on the property.
The victor receives the title of Top Man, a monogrammed falconry glove, and a $50 Grubhub gift card.
Before you attempt to Google it, I should tell you that the Gentathelon doesn’t exist.
Yet.
I invented it with my friend Doctor Mike when we were draining a bladder of rosé on the rooftop of our old apartment building.
Why am I interrupting your workday with this nonsense?
Because most of our ideas came to us when we weren’t looking for them.
Instead of ignoring our wives for hours at a time while designing our fictitious sporting event, we ignored them only when our moronic ideas surfaced from our subconscious.
This is how you’ll come up with some of your best ideas.
Allowing time for your ideas to incubate is often the easiest way to coax the good ones out of hiding.
Because when your brain has some raw material to work with, it behaves as an incubator where the wandering mind makes connections that you couldn’t see before.
This step in the creative process tends to be fairly unpopular since it looks a lot like doing nothing.
That’s when I send people to James Webb Young’s classic book: A Technique for Producing Ideas. Specifically, the part where he says:
“Drop the problem completely and turn to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions. Listen to music, go to the theater or movies, read poetry or a detective story … Out of nowhere the idea will appear.”
Oh, and don’t forget to keep a notepad next to your volume of detective stories so you can jot down your ideas before you lose them to the next distraction.
That’s what I do. Otherwise, we may never have come up with the riddle I’ll leave you with today …
Your haberdasher and your arborist visit on the same day. Later, you notice your first edition of Catcher in the Rye is missing. Each person blames the other for the theft. Who is lying?
(Answer: Your haberdasher since you’d never allow your arborist to track dirt into the main house.)
Sneaky little haberdashers.
Here’s a song to play you out >>>
See you next time. — Matt
If you want a fresh marketing nugget emailed to you every two weeks, join here.
