Where and when do you get your ideas?
The shower?
On a walk?
Right before you fall asleep…or just before you are fully awake?
No doubt, the last place you get them is on the 4th floor of an “open office.”
No, ideas often happen when we least expect them.
Recently, I heard about a good idea to get good ideas from none other than Thomas Edison.
You know Edison. He, of 1,093 patents — still the U.S. record — who gave the world electric light, recorded sound, and motion pictures.
That guy.
Edison was very interested in forcing inspiration; forcing ideas.
This interest materialized into a rather odd afternoon ritual.
Edison would sit in his armchair and take a nap. At the same time, he’d hold a penny in each hand with metal pans positioned on the floor below.
As he relaxed and drifted toward sleep, he’d enter what the scientists call the “hypnagogic state.” This is the semi-conscious twilight zone between waking and dreaming. At that moment, Edison crossed into actual sleep, and his muscles would relax. Then his hands would open. And then…the pennies would drop.
CLANG.
The noise jolted him awake. And in this awakened state, Edison would immediately grab a pen and notebook and write down the images and creative insights he conjured up in that threshold state while they were still fresh.
Modern sleep research has validated this. The hypnagogic state really is a creative goldmine. Your logical brain quiets down while your associative thinking fires up. You make unexpected connections. Wild ideas appear and seem possible.
By the way, this is the origin story behind the phrase, “the penny dropped.”
It marks the moment when you have a realization or idea.
Come to think of it, it might also be the origin story of the phrase, “penny for your thoughts.”
Either way, worth trying, me thinks.
Rob Schwartz is the Chair of the TBWA New York Group and an executive coach who channels his creativity, experience and wisdom into helping others get where they want to be. This was originally posted on his Substack, RobSchwartzHelps, where he covers work, life, and creativity.
Header image: Getty Images for Unsplash+.
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