Impromptu midnight Instagram Live covering the creative process, dream incubation, and lucid dreaming for better creative problem solving, and sleep’s role in innovative thinking.
(Ignore the EI announcement at the beginning – I decided to launch the hub on Ghost!)
Dream Incubation (method in video):
- Write the problem that you'd like to better understand/work on/solve on a notepad and keep the notepad next to your bed. Additionally, add visual or other sensory cues relating to the problem or desired solution to nightstand or within reach.
- Before sleeping, take a few minutes to review and sit with the problem (read it from the notepad, think about details, interact with accompanying sensory materials/related information).
- Visualize the problem in more depth and attach abstract or specific imagery to it. ex. Imagine a customer with a pain point that you're wanting to solve in vivid detail -- and how solving that might look.
- Visualize yourself dreaming about the problem visualization (meta, right?) and about waking up + writing the dream on your notepad. (You're visualizing a successful dream incubation!)
- Upon waking, take a moment to reflect. Notice if any pieces of the problem showed up in your dream or any new details come to mind. Continue digging in for a moment to retrieve any other pertinent details.
- Write down any insights on your notepad immediately. Even if it doesn't make sense now, it could be a puzzle piece that’ll make sense later.
The above process (along with others mentioned) becomes more and more effective with practice and creates intentional habits that work with our brain's unique processing. I hope that you enjoy this fun rundown of a few tips and practices.
