More To Imagine

So I'm on Chapter 2 Alpha Waves (Condition Blue) pages 25-43. This is only the first half of chapter 2, remember I'm taking this slowly!

     He mentions a few monumental creations and how they thought of them. The major one being the story about the guy who created masking tape. Oh, the things we take for granted! And then he talks about The Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, better known as 3M. (Which is where the masking tape inventor worked, selling sandpaper.) This company currently sells more than 55,000 different products. They have developed a few essential things about creativity.

1. Flexible attention policy – They don't insist on constant concentration for 8 hours a day, they encourage people to make time for activities that may seem unproductive, like taking a walk, lying down on a couch by a sunny window, daydream, play pinball...
2. The 15% rule – 15% of the workday can be spent pursuing speculative new ideas. Only requirement is they have to share these ideas with their co-workers. Google also use this technique.

Basically, relaxation  or a relaxed state of mind helps us direct the spotlight of attention inward towards the right brain. When we are really focused, our attention tends to be directed outward, which keeps us from those insightful moments. It's like we have all these answers in us, we just need to listen.

I find I get a lot of insightful ideas when I just wake up in the morning and can just lay in bed for awhile. A lot of the time, I get so many ideas that they make get up out of bed without even thinking so I can go and get started on them – as long as I'm not too distracted along the way!

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