# Beer Mode and Coffee Mode
#done 
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## Metadata
- Author: [[perell.com]]
- Full Title: Beer Mode and Coffee Mode
- Category: #articles
- URL: https://perell.com/note/open-mode-and-closed-mode/

## Highlights
- Beer mode is a state of unfocused play where you discover new ideas. In contrast, coffee mode is a state of focus where you work towards a specific outcome.
- The productivity world is oriented around coffee mode because it’s easy to define, easy to measure, and therefore, easier to write about.
- Standard tropes like turn off the Internet, tune out distractions, and turn towards your goals are all examples of coffee mode thinking
- beer mode is filled with surprises that are impossible to predict. On most days, you feel like you wasted time because you don’t make a breakthrough discovery
- Fleming said: “I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”
- On any given day, the scientists who worked in closed mode were more productive. But over the long arc of time, the scientists who embraced the interruptions of open mode ultimately did more important work even though they didn’t work as hard.
- Our best ideas rarely come alive in busyness. They spring to life in calm and aimless contemplation. In beer mode, you find inspiration. And in coffee mode, you harvest that inspiration. If you only spend time in coffee mode, you’ll shut yourself off to transformative ideas because the fruits of genius are sown with the seeds of beer mode wanderings.