For a brief time in 2012, we lived in an inner city suburb, north of the city.
The local park was an old tip converted into a park with a large man-made hill in the centre. From the top there was a splendid view of the city buildings.
I was writing a book as part of a business course I was doing. Coming up with the perfect title was doing my head in.
So, I would sit on a bench staring at the city and with a dogged determination, sift, sort and discard ideas for hours. The more I thought the less sure I was of even writing the book.
Part of the process had been a set of exercises to ‘unpack my value’. I felt overburdened with choice.
Dr Barry Schwartz wrote in his book, ‘The Parody of Choice’, ‘When we become exposed to seemingly endless choices, our decision making process is stunted and we can become debilitated.’
I have my own theory. My over-thinking was fuelling the Lizard. A lack of decision is it’s call to action. Wasting hours of productive billable time was how it framed what I’d been doing. So to the mix, I added guilt.
In research of a light bulb moment
I needed a light bulb moment. But how do you manufacture one of those?
R. Keith Sawyer is a world acknowledged expert on the subject of creativity.
In a Times interview, talking about his creativity research, he referred to the three B’s, bathtub, bed and bus. The places where we take time out from the problems and issues of our daily lives and so ‘change what we’re doing and the context and activate different areas of the brain.’
Daydreaming, which we often do in the ‘three b’s’, has also been attributed to the creative process.
Research shows that we daydream up to a third of our waking hours, and that these ‘mind wanderings’ activate the same decision making parts of the brain that are triggered by focused thinking.
In one study, observations demonstrated that the content of mind wandering is closely related to ‘current personal concerns and unresolved issues’.
Aha!
Exhausted by the over thinking and lack of resolution and needing to shut the Lizard up, I decided to give it a break.
Not long after, I was daydreaming on a walk with some random rock song playing in my ears. Without warning, in popped the term ‘immutable laws’. No reference, no context. Followed immediately by the seven words which subsequently became the seven principles from which I wrote the book and now coach as part of my business.
A life-changing, lightbulb moment.
Clarity is a beautiful place
While this is only my theory, the science appears to back it up – you have to be in a place of ‘current personal concerns and unresolved issues’ to find clarity.
You have to go through a process that clutters your brain with all the information, all the possibilities, all the options in any given situation for a lightbulb moment to pop in to your brain.
Ask any of the participants of a course I am a joint facilitator in, Talk On Purpose.
The beginning of the course seems to mess with people’s heads. They thought they were clear on their purpose and their intention for the talk, but the options we expose them to leads to indecision.
From a place of confusion and clutter, sometimes seemingly at the last moment, out pops the right idea. To a one they graduate with a fluent, coherent, talk on purpose. For some, they say it is life changing.
Clarity is a truly, desirable outcome for us all. And often it comes when you are having fun or relaxing or daydreaming and not working so hard your brain wants to break.
Which is why I am delighted to invite you all to the upcoming Through a Glass, Brightly, clarity webinar series. You can find the details here.
It starts on June 25th and features five extraordinary people and myself and my husband, Roger. We’ve all found clarity through way more than the mandatory 10,000 hours it takes to become good in the fields of what we do.
Their goal is to share with you clarity around purpose, speaking, truth, story telling, conversation and clarity itself. We will inject a little clarity into the subjects that daunt so many, being online and writing.
They CAN Co-Exist: Fun and Productivity
Being productive doesn’t have to come at the cost of fun (or relaxing or daydreaming!). Joy (and clarity) can be had when you’re at your most efficient.
Each month, a group of wickedly smart business owners come together for the Word Carnival to discuss a business topic, this month – we’re covering Fun and Productivity, and how both can exist side-by-side. Check the other blogs out here. You will, as always gain gold.
Sounds like a great course, Sandy. Best of luck!
Sharon Hurley Hall recently posted…5 Ways I Have Fun While I Work
Hi Sharon, thank you. It is not such much a course, but a webinar series, entirely free and bought with a real passion to introduce the notion of clarity as the starting point for success in anything we attempt. Hope you will be able to attend some or all of them Sharon, although the timing might be a little inhospitable!
SandyMc recently posted…Take a walk. Have a shower
Love this reminder to get out from behind the desk and let the mind do what it does best. For me, the shower is my favorite place to not think/get ideas. Followed up by the wee hours of the morning between waking and getting out of bed. This is why I try to write first thing. To capture all that good stuff. Your webinar series sounds great, Sandy. Good luck!
Tea Silvestre recently posted…9 Tips to Connect with Your Inner Genius and Find Your Best Content Marketing Stories
Hi Tea, what I was really thrilled about is that there is actually a scientific reason as to why taking a shower works! I too am a wee hours of the morning ideas person, although I have to record them! Can you remember them the next morning?
SandyMc recently posted…Take a walk. Have a shower
Whenever I get particularly frustrated, my habit is to clean. Everything. From top to bottom. I’ll do dishes, I’ll vacuum, I’ll clean the bathrooms.
After a while, I’ll either be a lot less frustrated, or at least able to conduct myself into the next thing on my to-do list.
I hate taking long showers or lounging in bed, but damned if a good walk around the block doesn’t clear my head right up. On particularly frustrating days, I’ll camp myself outside with a wifi hotspot and just watch the wind through the trees (and maybe enjoy a brew while I’m at it).
I wrote my second children’s book that way!
Nick Armstrong recently posted…Why Rituals Matter
Wind watching. Of course Nick, it is mesmeric. Like faces going past a wet coffee shop window. Somehow your vision stops either just short or just past them, but it is a great daydreaming space. How amazing that you can get into a creative brain space by cleaning. That is ultimate, you get a fabulous idea and you have a clean house. Seems perfect to me. What a dark horse you are too, TWO children’s books. That is awesome.
SandyMc recently posted…Take a walk. Have a shower
Sandy I’ve walked in your lizard brain shoes. The harder you try the further out of reach an answer gets. It’s like your brain IS a lizard, and he’s got running shoes on his feet so he go far, far away. Lizards have to come to us, on their own terms. That was something I learned living in a tropical environment. Chase a lizard and it runs. Wait quietly, ignore the lizard, and it comes near you. Now that it’s finally spring here in Minnesota I’ve been gardening, and oh the lizard brain is loving that!
Nicole Fende recently posted…Process, Systems, and… Adventure? (to Profit!)
Nicole, gardening is a lovely way to keep the Lizard quiet. I love your image of this pesky little critter running as far away as it can whenever you start over- thinking on it! We have a few months yet to wait to get back to gardening, but that is a lovely Lizard hassle free space.
SandyMc recently posted…Take a walk. Have a shower
This concept has come up again and again for me recently and I suppose sometimes we “know” things are true but don’t recognize them for what they are until we’re forced to. Like taking a break from “thinking” and allowing your mind to just “be”. Let it go over those ideas. It will come up with something without all your prodding and poking!
Your course sounds awesome. I can’t wait to hear more about it!
Carol Lynn recently posted…My Crummy Waitress: In Defense Of Poor Customer Service
Strange that even when it has been proved over and over, we don’t just trust our brain to do it for us, but keep on nagging and hassling. You have said something Carol Lynn that has given me another insight into why not to do the latter. It wears you out, makes you cranky and out of sorts and is so far from a clear thinking process as to be simply daft.
SandyMc recently posted…Take a walk. Have a shower