The Power of Aha Moments and How They Can Make You a Smarter Businessperson
January 30, 2018
And that’s before you’re even burdened by the strong possibility that you may have to work for months (even several years) without making a profit. There’s nothing like working your butt off 24/7 without pay to send your mind spinning with uncontrolled anxiety at 3 a.m.
These are burdens entrepreneurs must be prepared to bear. However, it doesn’t mean that frantic activity and the stress of constantly working are requirements for success.
In fact, there’s evidence which shows that stopping work and letting your mind relax is necessary for the complex problem solving often required when starting a business.
Cultivating Aha Moments
You know what an aha moment is, even if you’ve never heard that term.
These are those moments when you suddenly come up with a brilliant solution to a problem you’ve been working on. The solution “pops” into your head as you’re taking a showing, washing dishes, or lying half awake in bed.
In other words, the solution doesn’t present itself when you’re sitting in a meeting, concentrating on the problem with intensity. You don’t get it by brainstorming, making a spreadsheet and outlining a step-by-step plan.
Aha moments happen in periods of inaction. They crop up when our minds are quiet and our conscious thinking is at rest. These are not random events. In fact, research supports four specific steps you can take to have these moments of insight.
For an entrepreneur starting a business, the idea of taking downtime to solve a problem may seem counterintuitive. You’ve created the idea that you need to work a 14-hour day to get ahead. Your calendar is packed with calls, meetings, and tasks.
However, if you also foster certain conditions, you’ll find some of your best (and perhaps brilliant) ideas come when you least expect them.
Quiet for Insight
People starting businesses often have a bias against quiet moments of silence and solitude. They seem like inaction – even laziness. Someone sitting in an empty conference room or out taking a stroll does not look like work.
However, the ultra-quiet state of meditation has been linked to better decision making. Just 15 minutes of quiet mediation helps people recognize and resist their own biases.
Introspection
In the age of mobile connectivity, it can be hard to turn your thinking inward. But sometimes, “zoning-out” is far more productive than constantly checking your phone.
Think of this as putting your brain into idle mode, where you make a conscious effort to not respond to external stimulus. This puts your brain into a state where these sudden aha moments occur.
Sound silly? It’s documented that Thomas Edison routinely let his mind wander to stimulate moments of innovative thinking. And again, scientific research backs up the value of letting your mind wander to cultivate creative thinking.
Be Positive
Starting a business can cause a lot of anxiety. Unfortunately, this is killer when it comes to the creative, insightful thinking that occurs during aha moments.
The “noise” that anxiety causes curbs our ability to take in information. Simply being in a better mood puts you in a state where powerful insights emerge.
If you’re feeling anxious or grumpy, you’re actually hindering your ability to solve problems. This is one of the clearest signals that it’s time to take a step back and let your mind regroup.
Take a nap, veg out to your favorite program, or maybe just call it a day and meet a friend for a drink. Put yourself back into a positive state of mind and you’re more likely to hit on a solution to your problem.
Don’t Try So Hard
This is a piece of advice that people starting a business have a tough time taking. Quit trying so hard to solve all your problems.
People often conflate sheer effort with effectiveness. There are many activities where relaxing rather than straining yields better results. You can try to hit a golf ball as hard as possible with every swing, but your score will be much better if you relax and let the club do the work.
Again, this seems counter-intuitive. In order to solve your problem, stop thinking about it. Move to other tasks, even if they’re menial. This allows your mind to break away from the decision-making process so you can clear your cognitive pathways for new ideas.
When you realize you’re overthinking a problem, try exercising. Hit the gym, ride your bike, or go for a swim. Get your blood flowing and work out your stress. You’ll come back feeling more relaxed, positive, and open-minded.
Wrap Up
The key to understanding aha moments is to realize your brain keeps working on problems subconsciously. All of the mental and emotional steps we described here are designed to help you open up to this unconscious level of thought.
These veiled yet powerful cognitive processes are vital to solving many of the complex problems businesses must overcome, especially when trying to align business goals with today’s digital lifestyles. Many marketing challenges today don’t have obvious, clear-cut solutions. Effort alone isn’t enough to help you process the deluge of information that comes at you in modern business.
Starting a business takes tons of hard work, but it’s a myth that overt hustle alone is the key to success. On the contrary, people who work themselves to a frazzle tend to sabotage the creative thinking that leads to superior solutions. They also tend to burn out because they associate work with external activity, and they see stopping as weakness.
What they fail to see is that their mind will keep working even when they’re giving conscious thought a break. You can’t be at your best unless you’re healthy, and it’s no coincidence that the techniques we’ve outlined help you relax and improve your mood.
The sudden great idea that “popped into your head’ while taking a shower or walking the dog was neither accidental nor lucky. It happened because your mind has been working on it since it first occurred to you. Then, in a moment of quiet and calm, the most creative, effective solution occurred to you.
Hard work is mandatory when starting a business. But don’t handicap your mind with the weight of constant busy work.
You also have to work smart. Doing so requires that, at times, you let your mind wander. One of the wonders of human nature is that as you let go and stop focusing on the problem, your subconscious keeps working towards finding the best answer.
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