Over the weekend, I read Carlo Rovelli's 'The Order of Time'. It's an excellent book that shed totally new perspectives for me on the concept of time and the physics behind it. If you have a liking for Physics, you will certainly enjoy reading the book. 

However, one of the anecdotes I came across in the book was a reinforcing example for an idea I've internalised, but need a reminder of from time to time. 

The anecdote is the story of Albert Einstein from his time as a patent clerk. While he was a clerk at the patent office, a lot of patent applications were about the problem of synchronisation of time across different cities and different geographies. 

Being exposed to these topics consistently triggered thoughts in Einstein that led him to coming up with theories about time, the speed of light and relativity. 

Of course, there were many others exposed to the same stimuli and not all of them turned out to be Einstein. 

Nonetheless, the relevant exposure to a topic or an idea is a pre-requisite for us to have ideas that push the boundaries in that field. 

If you're looking to excel in anything - from stand-up comedy to cutting edge theoretical Physics, you need to be consuming at least an order of magnitude more information in that field than what you expect to be putting out.