Over the past two weeks, I have come to an interesting conclusion...and here it is: Daydreaming works.
I stumbled onto this phenomenon somewhat randomly. You see, I tend to be one of those people who is typically DOING something...all of the time. And if I'm not doing something, I'm listening to something, or reading something, or emailing someone, or, oh yeah...skiing. Does this sound familiar? Many of us who tend to be driven, and entrepreneurial by nature, are like this. 
Two weeks ago, I decided to turn off my radio indefinitely while driving in the car. However, my initial purpose for this radio boycott project wasn't to daydream, rather it was to be more mindful about strengthening my prayer life. I figured that the time that I wasted in the car could be spent in prayer instead of mindless Classic Rock.
But, as we all know, the mind has the propensity to drift. For the first few days of the exercise, I attempted to fight this off and stick to the plan. However, on the third or fourth day, I decided to let my mind wander and see what happened. The result? I ended up developing and further perfecting some interesting ideas for our business at Tidemark. While these ideas may not be earth-shattering, they have certainly helped to make my work this week more purposeful and productive. Having had this experience, I decided to do some investigating on the subject of daydreaming, and turned up a great deal of research on the topic.
Amy Fries writes (Psychology Today):
"Admit it. When do you get your best ideas? When you're sitting at your desk striving for an answer, or when you're doing something off-task like driving, walking, or puttering around the house?
On the surface, daydreaming seems like the antithesis of 'work,' yet it's truly at the core of our most important type of productivity--creative problem-solving. That's why some of the most innovative companies in the world feature programs that give key employees the time and space to think creatively, i.e. daydream--Google offers a 20% program, 3M has a 15% program, and Gore & Associates (Gore-Tex, etc.) features 'dabble time.' All three companies credit these programs as the source of their most successful products.
While many of us can see the relationship between daydreaming and creativity in the arts and even science, we've been slower to come around to its usefulness in business. Say the word 'visionary' however, and we understand how having a vision--a mental image or plan--can help someone start a breakthrough company or service.
Yes, I know. All the work and focus must follow to have an idea come to fruition. But the original idea and the motivation to fulfill that idea are birthed in a daydreaming state, and we do our most creative problem-solving when the mind wanders. While daydreaming, we can:
- Envision - Model and simulate in our mind's eye
- Think uncensored thoughts - Necessary for originality
- Free associate - Make random connections and come up with novel solutions
- Tap into the most complex regions of the brain "
Amy goes on to say that encouraging your team to be creative and daydream starts with the way you talk to your team:
- "Ask 'what if' questions and encourage speculative thinking.
- Accept risk and a certain amount of failure. I believe it was Edison who said 'to have one good idea, have a lot of them.'
- Provide a forum for idea sharing and give feedback.
- Get rid of your old-school ideas about daydreaming, and start doing it. Go ahead--I'm giving you permission. Among the many benefits of daydreaming-it's fun, and we can all use some of that."
I'll go out on a limb and say that it will be the teams who exercise the most creativity in all of their key strategies, who will begin or continue to dominate their market...not to mention, be more fun to work for.
And in case your concerned...yes, I am still praying too.
Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
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