Are you waiting for the pot to boil?
Here are my therapeutic musings…
🧠 I've been thinking about how much more creative and strategic my thinking is when I’m in the shower vs. when I’m sat at my desk. Or at the park. Or at a museum. Or anywhere for that matter, other than my desk.
You see, there’s an old saying "a watched pot never boils" and it’s true. That can be a problem if you want the pot to boil - for something to happen or an idea to come! This phrase can be applied to most areas of life. From making major life decisions, to getting clear about a work project.
📢 Ask yourself:
“Am I forcing myself to overthink a situation to no avail?”
“Do I restrict the way I process and consider ideas?”
“How might I enable my unconscious mind to guide me?”
💡The revelation:
An Incubation Period is a term used in creativity research, which refers to a period of time when you don’t consciously think about a problem. It's a stage where you've absorbed all the information you need before letting the problem sit in your mind. It's believed that this period allows for unique connections to form in your brain, leading to creative solutions or decisions.
Before you move on to the Incubation Period, spend as much time as necessary fully understanding the issue (doing research, talking to others, brainstorming etc.). Once you understand the problem, spend some time trying to solve it. This might involve developing and testing hypotheses, or creating and evaluating potential solutions. If you're making good progress, by all means, keep going! But if you find yourself getting stuck, feeling stressed, or if you're just spinning your wheels, it might be time to take a break and let the problem incubate.
Here are some things to try during the Incubation period:
Priming Before Sleep: Sleep is a crucial time for memory consolidation and unconscious processing. Some researchers suggest that it might be helpful to engage in a process called 'dream incubation' if you want to use your dreams for problem-solving. This involves focusing on a problem before going to sleep and consciously asking for a dream that will help solve it.
Meditation and Mindfulness: These practices can help clear your mind, making it easier for your unconscious to work on the problem. Additionally, they help improve your attention and awareness, which might mean you notice new insights or ideas that emerge.
Engage in Something Different: Doing something completely unrelated to the problem can stimulate your mind and lead to unexpected connections. This could involve physical activities like walking or exercising, or cognitive activities like reading a novel, or playing an instrument.
Creating Art: Drawing, painting, or engaging in other artistic activities can stimulate your creativity and might help you see the problem from a fresh perspective.
Journaling: Write about your thoughts and feelings related to the problem. This can help clarify your thinking and also clear the mind of any junk, or negative self-talk, that’s hanging around.
You see, our unconscious mind continues to work on problems even when we're not actively thinking about them. By "letting the pot boil," you're stepping away from the issue and allowing your unconscious mind to work on the solution in a less linear way. You might find that when you return to the problem later, new ideas are afoot. This is often what happens when people have 'aha!' moments or when solutions come to them 'out of the blue.'
Constantly watching and waiting for inspiration to strike, or for a decision to be reached, can also spike our stress levels. By allowing our unconscious to tussle with a matter, our anxiety not only reduces, but our decision-making also improves. Since it’s devoid of pressure or fearful thinking.
💛 Product I’m loving: National Art Pass, which lets you enjoy free entry to hundreds of museums, galleries and historic houses across the UK. If you’re looking to up your creative inspiration and supercharge your Incubation Period, gift this to yourself!
Thanks for being here,
