Alex Wadelton.
Alex Wadelton, Creative Director at ICON.
In 2026, my vow is to lie down on a couch three times a week at work and daydream. Here’s why you should too:
So, you’re back at work. Which probably means you’re busier than ever, and that blissful mid-afternoon nap you occasionally squeezed in over summer already feels like a distant memory.
The new work year is always a heavy moment for self-reflection.
That first marathon stretch back on the computer juggling spreadsheets, google docs, and chatting with an AI, can have you questioning your life’s choices.
This post on reddit sums up how the majority of us in marketing, advertising, PR, and comms spend our days:
I spend 8 hours at work, all day, staring at a screen and clicking things and typing things.
When I get off work, I switch to a different screen - my personal laptop screen - where I watch youtube, check reddit, and browse the web.
I may switch over to my larger screen to play some Xbox as well. That screen is 1440P so it's a pretty nice and crisp screen.
I'll surely take a look at my smallest screen, my phone - throughout the day to check my emails.
I'll also set an alarm on this very tiny screen, so when I wake up in the morning I can start, on time, another day of staring at various screens.
In that day, there is no genuine rest. It’s Go-Go-Go to meet those deadlines, create that ROI, and Be Efficient.
But, and it’s counter-intuitive to say it, making time to lie down during the day with no devices may just be the most efficient use of your time.
Because when you do that, your mind drifts into a semi-awake state of consciousness. And that’s where real problem solving happens.
How many genuine breakthrough ideas have you had while sitting at a desk staring at a screen?
For me, in more than twenty years, the number is a big, fat, ZERO.
But plenty have arrived half asleep on a couch. Or on a walk. Or in the shower. Or when I was completely relaxed.
We all know this. Yet we still get stuck in a technological whirlpool that hypnotises us.
We go to AI looking for a quick shortcut.
And while AI is incredible technology, we shouldn’t default to it for the thinking bit. Because the thinking bit is the fun bit. Where anything is possible.
Don’t get me wrong, AI is brilliant for research. For expanding an idea you already have. Tidying up words. Or as a writing partner to bounce things off.
But if you don’t come to it with your own point of view, you’re missing a massive trick.
Computers are indefatigable. They go all day and night. Forever. We, though, are human. We need ebbs and flows.
And it’s this humanness that many of us are losing grip on in our endless grab for Peak Efficiency.
About the only thing a large language model can’t do is lie down on a couch and drift….
Drift into those darker inner recesses where ideas mix, collide, and start to become original and interesting.
AI is ultimately an amalgam of existing thought. It predicts what sounds right. And what sounds right is often boring when you actually think deeply about it.
There’s an old adage in advertising: If an idea tests well in research, you know it’s probably not a great idea.
Years ago, I sat behind the glass watching a focus group praise a piece of work.
The client thought they were onto something big. Minutes later, in the bathroom, I overheard two of those same participants talking. One of them said, “Yeah, what the hell was that all about?” Not two minutes earlier, they were saying it was good.
AI is like a research group on steroids. Lots of it.
It’s amazing as a support, but you are the one who needs to lead it.
That’s why, in 2026 vow to be aggressively human.
Vow to think deeply.
Vow to trust your own unique taste.
Vow to have a point of view.
And most importantly, vow to lie down on a couch and let what matters most bubble up through your subconscious…
Creativity.