Short-Circuit Self-Censorship
"When he needed an idea, Thomas Edison liked to sit in a 'thinking chair' holding a metal ball bearing in each palm, with his hands closed. On the floor, directly under his hands, were two metal pie pans. Edison would close his eyes and allow his body to relax. Somewhere between consciousness and dreaming his hands would relax and open without effort, letting the ball bearing fall noisily into the pie pans. That's when he would wake up and write down whatever idea was in his head at that moment. It was his way of coming up with ideas without his conscious mind censoring them."
— Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit
Some might call this ridiculous. I think it's not only fascinating, but also potentially very valuable. For someone like Edison — credited with over 1,000 patents, widely viewed as one of the most influential inventors of the last century, determined to generate novel solutions — getting past the censorship of the conscious mind is often the biggest obstacle.
Why not put yourself in a position to bypass all that? I've been thinking more about Ogilvy’s challenge of "escaping the tyranny of reason," and was delighted to come across an example of a noteworthy innovator. There’s evidence to suggest that it actually works.
A recent article in the Washington Post explores the efficacy of a similar tactic (which Salvador Dalí called “slumber with a key”): “a group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed they could induce people to dream about a particular subject and that doing so helped them become more creative, at least temporarily. They published their findings last month in Scientific Reports.”
It appears that folks like Thomas Edison, Mary Shelly, and Salvador Dalí were onto something. It’s taken deliberate effort on my part to overcome my bias against napping, and try to follow their example — and I’ve been pleased by the results.
One thing that’s important to note: Edison didn’t call it the “sleeping chair.” He called the place where he napped his “thinking chair.” Which underscores an important point: such tactics are still work. Deliberate, effortful work.
Related: Take A Wonder Wander
Related: Take A Nano-Nap
Related: Work Different
Related: My Own Nap Breakthrough
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