After getting home from a long day of work and an evening meeting, I found myself sitting in my chair watching Seinfeld at 10:15 pm. Typically, I’ll catch Seinfeld then flip over a few channels and watch Family Guy. Then, if I’ve not fallen fast asleep in my chair—which happens more often than I like to admit—I’ll watch some of King of the Hill.

Well, last night I wasn’t tired and I knew I probably wouldn’t head to bed until at least midnight…so I convinced myself that I’d open up my computer and just read through the second draft of the book proposal while I watched TV. No plans to work, no goals in mind.

Before Seinfeld was even over, I had muted the TV and shifted my focus to the proposal. The next thing I knew, I was editing and adding more and organizing the sections. By that point, I was pretty into the groove, so I worked as Peter, Brian and Stewie flickered on the screen and kept on working as Hank Hill stood out in the alley drinkin’ beer with his buddies. At 12:30, I got to a good stopping point and headed to bed.

A few more accidentally productive nights like that one, and I just might become an author.