Seed Your Subconscious
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.” - John Steinbeck
Many scientists, artists, and inventors have leveraged the power of the subconscious during sleep. Nobel Laureate Otto Loewi traced the design of the experiment that would win him the Nobel Prize in a dream (two, actually!).
I wonder at how little use we make of the subconscious. After all, the fact is that Steinbeck’s “committee of sleep” meets nightly! Why not make full use of its power?
I’ve found there’s immense power in simply seeding the subconscious by deliberately and intentionally bringing to mind a problem I’m struggling with before going to bed. Not to solve it directly, but to prime the subconscious.
Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and member of the “Paypal Mafia,” says, “I never go to sleep without giving my subconscious a problem to solve.” Tim Ferriss describes how Hoffman will journal on the problem first thing in the morning, before checking email, text messages, etc.
The committee of sleep is meeting again tonight… why not put something on the agenda?
Related: Take a Nano Nap
Related: Edison Wasn’t Crazy
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The quality of our thinking is deeply influenced by the diversity of the inputs we collect. Implementing practices like Brian Grazer’s “Curiosity Conversations” ensures innovators are well-equipped with a variety of high-quality raw material for problem-solving.