The Power of Daydreaming: Make Space for Creativity and Innovation
We can either spend time in reactions to the present/past or in creating and forging a fresh new future – filled with creativity and innovation.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
William Shakespeare, Richard II
The answer is obvious, yet we spend hours of time in activities that we know do not add up to anything necessarily.
According to a famous study conducted in Germany, we (even competent human beings) spend about an average of 4 hours a day in distractions from our stated intentions.
Obviously, you do not have to spend time in creativity, innovation, or reactions – you could just enjoy your time. But I know the ambitious among you wish to be more productive in most of your moments.
How can you really create more creative and innovative time?
What I advocate strongly for is to learn to daydream in a structured way on the following points:
1. Create a vision for yourself that is larger than your concerns and fears.
What could be a larger set of goals or a bigger vision than the one that you currently set for yourself?
2. Increase your awareness of time being spent and where.
Start keeping track of your time and how it is spent.
3. Stop or reduce making yourself wrong for wasting time and daydreaming.
Doesn’t make sense does it to waste more time making yourself wrong?
4. Bring a new determination to resolve short-term issues and look to the longer-term bright future.
The next time an issue comes up, ask yourself what is the opportunity to learn, capitalize or move forward?
5. Increase your ability to invest in yourself to increase your capacity and voraciousness for creativity and innovation rather than the mundane.
Moving into creativity and innovation includes the willingness to no longer tolerate the ordinary or what is below your standards.
This does not make the ordinary wrong – rather it demands your willingness to extend your imagination past the ordinary.
6. More awareness: Notice when you complain about boredom or anxiety.
Are you willing to move out of these two states into creativity and innovation?
7. Create deadlines to implement bigger ideas in small chunks every week.
Spend more time generating the long term – if you don’t spend time building the long term, you will always have short-term triumphs and crises.
If you need help, contact me or follow me on LinkedIn.
Since 1991, I’ve been reflecting on, designing, and implementing methodologies and systems for bringing a transcendent, creative and innovative approach to critical aspects of entrepreneurship.
Excellent article. I learned that the best way to optimize productivity and increase focus is to block out 60 minutes to work on one task or project. And, turn off cell phone notifications, do not check email, do not check text messages, turn off all social media. When we are distracted it takes 15-20 minutes for our mind to get back to where we were. Another item to track: how much time is used checking social media sites.