Ben Wilson

So they would have a very faithful, constant, in many ways, boring marriage for their entire lives. And Edwin Lamb thought that this was part of his success. He wrote, quote, no person could possibly be original in one area. Unless he were possessed of the emotional and social stability that comes from fixed attitudes in all areas other than the one in which he's being original.

The inventor's dependency on the fixed attitudes of the society around him is very nearly total. And I doubt whether any person can be happy who rejects this structure of society, intellectual and social. Okay. So the totally unchanging, boring, fixed nature of his home life allows him to be very creative in the laboratory. That is how Land saw it. So he's in New York. He's married.

The inventor's dependency on the fixed attitudes of the society around him is very nearly total. And I doubt whether any person can be happy who rejects this structure of society, intellectual and social. Okay. So the totally unchanging, boring, fixed nature of his home life allows him to be very creative in the laboratory. That is how Land saw it. So he's in New York. He's married.

He's got his boring home life. He hires one assistant and works on the issue of manufacturing synthetic polarizer day and night. He's totally obsessed. I've talked before, especially in the Isaac Newton episode, about how these periods of intense focus can change your life. And Land has one of the best quotes about these periods I have ever read.

He's got his boring home life. He hires one assistant and works on the issue of manufacturing synthetic polarizer day and night. He's totally obsessed. I've talked before, especially in the Isaac Newton episode, about how these periods of intense focus can change your life. And Land has one of the best quotes about these periods I have ever read.

This is one of my favorite quotes ever, period, about anything. Here's what he said. He's describing the attitude. He says, you want to be almost alone with just a few friends. You want to be undisturbed. You want to be free to think, not for an hour at a time or three hours at a time, but for two days or two weeks, if possible, without interruption.

This is one of my favorite quotes ever, period, about anything. Here's what he said. He's describing the attitude. He says, you want to be almost alone with just a few friends. You want to be undisturbed. You want to be free to think, not for an hour at a time or three hours at a time, but for two days or two weeks, if possible, without interruption.

You don't want to drive the family car or go to parties. You wish people would just go away and leave you alone while you get something straight. Then you get it straight and you embody it. And during that period of embodiment, you have a feeling of almost divine guidance.

You don't want to drive the family car or go to parties. You wish people would just go away and leave you alone while you get something straight. Then you get it straight and you embody it. And during that period of embodiment, you have a feeling of almost divine guidance.

Then it is done and suddenly you are alone and you have to go back to your friends and the world around you and to all history to be refreshed, to feel alive and human once again. Okay, I love, you know, I already said this, two weeks can change your life. I love that he highlights actually that period, two days or two weeks, if possible.

Then it is done and suddenly you are alone and you have to go back to your friends and the world around you and to all history to be refreshed, to feel alive and human once again. Okay, I love, you know, I already said this, two weeks can change your life. I love that he highlights actually that period, two days or two weeks, if possible.

There really is something special about how much you can get accomplished in two weeks of intense focus. All right, he has another great quote on this. He says, I find it is important to work intensively for long hours when I am beginning to see solutions to a problem. At such times, solutions seem to come welling up.

There really is something special about how much you can get accomplished in two weeks of intense focus. All right, he has another great quote on this. He says, I find it is important to work intensively for long hours when I am beginning to see solutions to a problem. At such times, solutions seem to come welling up.

You are handling so many variables at a barely conscious level that you can't afford to be interrupted. If you are, it may take a year to cover the same ground you could cover otherwise in 60 hours. Okay, I love that. Something special happens. Divine guidance, he calls it.

You are handling so many variables at a barely conscious level that you can't afford to be interrupted. If you are, it may take a year to cover the same ground you could cover otherwise in 60 hours. Okay, I love that. Something special happens. Divine guidance, he calls it.

And without that intense focus, it might take you a year, he says, to accomplish what you could in three days with that focus. I find that true in podcasting. It took me two weeks to figure out how to podcast and launch this podcast. It's true in writing and starting a new business or venture. In basically everything, something really special happens when you focus completely for a short burst.

And without that intense focus, it might take you a year, he says, to accomplish what you could in three days with that focus. I find that true in podcasting. It took me two weeks to figure out how to podcast and launch this podcast. It's true in writing and starting a new business or venture. In basically everything, something really special happens when you focus completely for a short burst.

Okay, so in New York, he basically cracks how to create synthetic polarizers. He calls it one of the great moments of his life. When it first comes out and he's done it, he's created this synthetic polarizer. not just the material to be created, but also he has to figure out how to manufacture it and how to manufacture it at scale.

Okay, so in New York, he basically cracks how to create synthetic polarizers. He calls it one of the great moments of his life. When it first comes out and he's done it, he's created this synthetic polarizer. not just the material to be created, but also he has to figure out how to manufacture it and how to manufacture it at scale.

And so he does, he kind of cracks the code and he thinks his work is done. He gets some patents on it and he thinks he can now turn the work over to a big company and let them handle it. So he goes back to Harvard and resumes his studies. But of course, it turns out it's not that simple. Turning a concept into a mass-produced product turns out to be very difficult. You know, who would have known?