“Trusting in the unknown,” she assures us, “is the key to creativity, and to life.” Interweaving scientific theories and research, from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow, T.S. Eliot, Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Jen introduced three focus categories and highlighted both the importance and the rarity of the incubation period. Daydreaming, working with our hands, walking, are all examples of this incubation period. Procrastination, she tells us, is productive.

After introducing the concept of teleology, the idea of telling a story from the point of view of its end, she shared her story, beginning with her six years in “the abyss,” of wandering, “anxious, depressed” – without focus. Prior to wandering, her personal journey included attending and leaving institutions, and after, a period she calls ‘home improvement.’ She tells us that one of the most important lessons she’s learned is “knowing when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.”

And so, Jen shelved her memoir. In the days that followed, she filled an Excel spreadsheet with hundreds of product ideas before Knock Knock, her brand of witty, design-driven products that continues to thrive today. She has since grown her company, through periods of extreme focus on Knock Knock, at the expense of all other aspects of life, reaching profitability, evolving the brand, and now working toward achieving a self-sustaining company that will survive without and beyond her.

Jen ended her talk with Steve Jobs’ quote (because no talk is complete without two Steve Jobs’ quotes, she quips) on connecting the dots. In closing, she recommended that we allow ourselves to go “in and out of focus.”