This Sleep Hack Could Be The Key To Finding Your Next Big Idea
When do you tend to come up with your best ideas? Is it while you’re in the shower? When you’re going through the motions of your morning commute?
How about while you’re sleeping? And we don’t mean that moment just before you drift off — we mean when you’re literally passed out in the middle of the night. We’re talking about a little something called sleep-storming, or “structured unconscious generative ideation” if you feel like getting scientific about it.
Brainstorming solo while also unconscious just might be the best form of multitasking we’ve ever encountered. Quality sleep? Check. A new solution a pesky problem? Check. It sounds like a dream come true. But you do have to train your brain a bit before you can expect to pull an Einstein and come up with the next theory of relativity.
First things first, you have to identify the question you’re seeking to answer. Keep things on the simpler side. Instead of pondering how to address a major struggle in your romantic relationship, think more along the lines of how to jump into your next project at work or how you want to kick off the intro to your next blog post. Now, ask this question to your subconscious as you settle into your bed and start falling asleep.
You can even jot down a few notes about your quandary to make it even more present in your mind. Leave that notepad on your bedside table in case you dream and want to keep track of what happened once you wake up.
There’s obviously no guarantee that sleep-storming will bring you your next brilliant idea or help you work through what’s causing you some serious anxiety, but it’s certainly worth a shot. And either way you look it, connecting more clearly with your subconscious makes you more a more self-aware and tuned-in person anyway, and those are both things we would be more than happy to achieve.
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