The Science of Daydreaming

Daydreaming and Success

“All important progress made by the human race has its roots in daydreaming.” -Eda LeShan.

Any great idea started as dream. In fact, dreaming is a precursor for anything worth building, a key component to creating and crafting.

While daydreaming may seem like a waste of time to some, research shows that some kinds of daydreams can be useful. It helps people in exploring new ideas, envision certain situations, and may be get a better sense of their future selves; and all of this contributes to success.

History is full of high-achieving daydreamers: Einstein, Newton, and many others lived much of their lives in their imaginations and getting lost in their thoughts, rather their own worlds created in their headspace.

Even the scientific community is starting to validate its positive effects. A University of California, study found that people who let their minds wander did 41% better on creative thinking tests than others.

The experience of letting your mind wander into unusual pasts and probable futures, can be both useful and damaging to your wellbeing in life and success at work. It all depends on the kind of daydreaming you’re doing.

Story of a Chronic Daydreamer.

This reminds me of a powerful incident I read about one of the most enterprising and visionary leader of current times 𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒌.

During his childhood, his parents observed that he doesn’t listen to them and keep thinking something. It came to the point where he’d stop responding to his parents at all, leading them to believe Elon was actually “deaf”.

They took him to doctor and upon due procedure, his adenoid glands were removed, a surgery believed to improve hearing in children.

To everyone’s surprise, things didn’t improve even then.

After a long time, family realized that his ears and listening was perfectly fine, but when he is thinking something deeply, he is so focused that he is not able to listen.

In fact, he was a chronic daydreamer, frequently losing himself in vivid mind-wanderings where his ideas and fantasies temporarily eclipsed reality.

Once his family realized this, he was left alone with his thoughts and see what all he has created and is on the way to create.

In a world battling for our attention, you will hardly find people focused enough to get lost in their thoughts or ideas. In this era, daydreaming is SUPERPOWER, as far as focus on particular thought is concerned.

The Science of Daydreaming

If you’ve ever noticed, children’s minds wander about constantly. It’s no secret that the they are daydreaming a lot. What’s happens in your brain while daydreaming is pretty complex. As your mind wanders, you are using diverse aspects of your brain. Both the executive problem-solving network as well as the creativity network in your brain are working simultaneously.

Once different brain areas are activated, we can have access to the information that might have previously been improbable or dormant. Consequently, boredom or inactivity at times serves a great purpose. It inspires us to daydream, which creates significant connections across our brain.

Athletes and performers sometimes use purposeful daydreaming to practice before a game or performance. This method pre-wires their brains for success. It’s like practicing mentally rather than physically for an outcome you desire. This kind of imagining or structured daydreaming has been popular in the field of sports psychology.