You Can’t Not Have a Top Idea.
The only choice is whether you pick it, or let it pick you.
The top idea in your mind is usually the one that shapes your entire day, and you don’t even realise it.
When someone said this in a clearer sentence, like Graham does, it hit me that a lot of my bad days weren’t because of anything bad happening, but because something shitty was taking up too much mindshare.
It’s like letting an unwanted tenant sleep in your head, rent-free, and rearrange your furniture.
I didn’t know this was what was happening, but I could feel it.
The jitteriness, the scrolling, the endless indecision over small things, it usually meant some worry had silently climbed to the top of the thought ladder.
Most of us think we’re thinking about a hundred things, but really we’re orbiting around one thing all the time.
One thing that dominates the in-between moments, on the bus, before a meal, when the call drops, when the kettle boils.
That’s the top idea.
And it decides more than we think: energy levels, pace of speech, even how open we are to joy.
I realised that on days when I was just vaguely ‘off’, there was usually one silent mental anchor pulling everything else down.
The project I hadn’t started.
The one conversation I was scared of.
The bill I had postponed.
The person I was overthinking.
One idea at the top of the heap.
Paul Graham says that when your top idea is a project you're excited about, everything else becomes easier to bear.
Even when other things go wrong, your energy returns to that project like a spring.
I tested this.
Picked a project I actually wanted to finish.
Made it my phone wallpaper.
Jotted one thought about it this morning.
And the weirdest thing happened, I started thinking of it automatically in idle time.
Not as a task.
Just as something quietly alive.
I started noticing new connections, new possibilities, new paths to move forward.
And I didn't even try.
Turns out, the brain is loyal.
Feed it a good top idea, and it’ll keep running that program in the background, like a silent engine.
But feed it crap, your fears, your resentments, your regrets—and it’ll keep building its story around that too.
Graham’s point is subtle: you can’t not have a top idea.
The only choice is whether you pick it, or let it pick you.
And I used to think changing your thoughts was about discipline, but maybe it’s just about seeding the right thought, often enough, at the right time.
He also says something I really love: the more you think about something, the more interesting it becomes.
That’s true of people, books, problems, even obsessions.
So what if you chose what to obsess over a little more carefully?
That thought kept me up.
What if I could design my default obsession?
Make it something worthy.
Make it something tender.
Make it something that makes me feel more alive, not less.
The trick is, you have to plant the thought somewhere it can come back.
Write it on the mirror.
Record it as a voice note.
Slip it into your journal margins.
Name it in your group chat.
You have to do this again and again because the world is loud and the mind is leaky.
And you can’t expect a good thought to stick around if you never feed it.
So now I treat it like a garden.
Every morning, pick one idea to water.
And when that idea lives on top, the rest of the day somehow feels softer.
It’s not magic.
It’s just that the brain, like any system, tends toward what you train it to value.
If you value anxiety, it’ll give you more things to worry about.
If you value clarity, it’ll look for patterns.
If you value forward motion, it’ll give you micro-momentum.
And this doesn’t mean you’ll suddenly become unstoppable.
It just means the stuckness won’t last as long.
That’s what I really learnt from this piece.
That focus isn’t about isolation or force.
It’s about gentle gravity.
You pull a thought upward by caring about it.
You let it orbit you.
And slowly, it changes your inner weather.
I started using a trick now.
Whenever I’m drifting mentally, I say two words in my head: “top idea?”
And usually, something shows up.
Then I name it.
And if it’s not helpful, I ask: what would I rather be thinking about right now?
And I plant that instead.
Sometimes that one move saves my day.
Other times it just buys me five minutes of calm, which is enough.
I also learnt that the top idea doesn’t have to be dramatic.
It can be tiny.
Like “return the library book.”
Or “buy plums.”
Or “text them first.”
Tiny top ideas are underrated.
They get you unstuck.
Because the longer the slot remains empty, the likelier it is that anxiety will creep in and sit there.
So I keep my top idea light, moveable.
A paper boat, not a boulder.
Graham’s essay made me realise something else, people who seem “focused” are just people who manage their mental hierarchy better.
They don’t have more time.
They just don’t let useless thoughts sit at the top for too long.
That’s a skill.
It comes from noticing.
And choosing.
And repeating the choice.
Again and again.
Even when the day is messy.
Especially then.
Another new thing I do now is audio loop myself a voice note of what I want to stay top of mind.
I play it when brushing teeth or on walks.
Hearing myself say it helps.
It’s like giving the thought a louder microphone.
You can’t always control what pops up, but you can boost the signal of what matters.
Some days, the top idea is just “rest is allowed.”
Other days, it’s “show up anyway.”
Or “just write one line.”
Whatever it is, it deserves to be deliberate.
Because what you let live at the top of your mind, tends to become your life.
And if we can steer that even 10% better, that’s enough.
That’s all I want right now, better defaults.
Lighter orbits.
Truer thoughts.
And a brain that remembers what it came here to do.