Sleep On it

We all have a powerful tool for creative thinking and problem solving. Yet, many of us don’t use it to the best of our ability. I’m guilty of this as well. That tool is sleep.

“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious” - Thomas Edison

I’ve done this unintentionally in the past. Sometimes I would dream up a solution to a math problem or figure out the best way to market an event. But there’s a way to do this deliberately.

How can we leverage sleep?

One technique I learned is to ask myself whats the most important question I want answered and be as specific as possible [1]. I do this right before bed. Then let my subconsciousness work on it. First thing in the morning, I brainstorm on pen and paper for around 15 minutes.

Ive been doing this on and off for a couple of months now. It’s quite surprising some of the ideas I come up with.

Its time I should build this into a habit.

Notes

[1] Credits to Josh Waitzkin for this technique.