What? Daydreaming can make us more successful? Yes and no. Daydreaming alone is not going to be of much help, but if you combine daydreaming with solid actions, then you will become unstoppable.
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
– Albert Einstein
A lot of people have the wrong perception to think that daydreaming is a waste of time, but many studies have shown that daydreaming can be helpful in making you more successful.
I believe that daydreaming can be both a pro and a con.
You can get more ideas from your daydream, but if you are not applying the ideas or solutions you receive, it will be a waste of time.
Salvador Dali, the surreal painter from Spain received much of his painting ideas from his dreams.
And one of the most covered songs of all time, Yesterday by The Beatles, was incepted by the lead singer, Paul McCartney in a dream.
It was told that he woke up with the full melody in his head and then immediately went to work out the chords and tunes.
The same thing happened to Archimedes. He was trying to solve a science problem and while taking bath, an idea struck him. The solution to the problem suddenly appeared and he was so delighted that he ran naked on the streets shouting “Eureka!”
One of my favorite singers, Avril Lavigne who suffered from Lyme disease told her story of how the tune and idea of her latest song, Head Above Water came to her.
The Advantages of People Who Love Daydreaming
Daydreaming relaxes your mind.
When you daydream, you are allowing and giving time for your mind to take a break.
Working on something over a long period of time can be exhausting, and daydreaming can help relieve your mind and make you feel ‘fresh’ after the daydreaming session.
Daydreaming boosts your productivity and creativity.
As I mentioned above, daydreaming can be a powerful tool to help you brainstorm for possible solutions for the problems you are currently facing. Just like how Archimedes discovered the displacement principle.
Besides, the more you use your brain to think and imagine, the more creative you will get.
“The world is a canvas for your imagination. You are the painter. There are no rules. Get to work.”
Daydreaming is the first step to success.
Yes, daydreaming is the first step to success. Everything starts with an idea.
Look around you. Everything you see was once an idea, an imagination, and someone’s daydream before that someone turned his or her ideas into reality.
The computer you used was once an idea. Your phone was daydreamed by someone who believed that wireless communication is possible. This article you are reading right now was an idea I put into words. The cafe I’m currently in writing this article was also the owner’s idea.
Everything begins with an idea. Some ideas may look ordinary and some are crazy, but it is not just about the idea, it is about making your ideas happen that make you successful.
The Downside of Daydreaming
There are pros and cons to everything. The same goes for daydreaming.
If you are going to only daydream about things that are not going to happen, like yielding Thor’s hammer and fighting aliens and monsters on other planets, perhaps, you’re just wasting time.
Plus, if you are going to just daydream and do nothing about your ideas, nothing is going to come true too.
Ideas are just a form of potential power. The true power is in the execution.
So, if you just daydream about the success you want and living your dream lifestyle but not taking any action, don’t expect success will come to you.
It takes hard work to produce extraordinary success in life. You have to be willing to do the ‘extra’ in order to become extraordinary.
Don’t expect to just think about what you want, and things are going to fall to your lap automatically. You have to put in the work.
And stop daydreaming mindlessly. If you are serious about using daydream to build your success, you must not daydream just about anything.
Thinking about the unrealistic thing may not help. And this is where this below section is for you…
How to Daydream Constructively
You don’t want to daydream about things that are unrelated or not going to be helpful to you. You want to be directive.
I mean, it is alright if you daydream and let your mind wander aimlessly once a while, but if you do that every day, it is going to a huge waste of time.
Instead of daydreaming aimlessly, try to daydream constructively. Here are a few tips to help you daydream better:
1. Make time to daydream
Daydreaming works like planning, you must make time for it. Things can only happen if you schedule it.
Hence, schedule time to daydream. It may sound ridiculous, but you just need to take it as a time to relax and recharge. Take it as a short break for your mind to daydream the things that you want.
The key is to actively schedule daydreaming sessions into your daily life.
2. Daydream the process of achieving your goals
This is important because you don’t want to just daydream about anything. If you let your mind wander on its own, it will go way too far off.
Supposed you are going to daydream about achieving your dreams and goals, but if you let your mind wander aimlessly, you may end up daydreaming about your ex or fighting monsters with a lightsaber.
Make it a guided daydream. You can have a big picture like imagining yourself living a successful life.
You want to daydream without limitations, but at the same time, be realistic about what you want.
Therefore, give yourself a good direction to daydream. Focus and think about the success and the future you want, not just anything.
And a good way to do so is to imagine yourself going through the process of achieving what you want.
For instance, if your dream is to become a successful internet marketer, see yourself going through the process of achieving that dream.
Imagine you working hard through the process, building websites, learning from other successful marketers, attending seminars, learning, holding a meeting with your teams, etc.
Let the process inspires you.
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3. Imagine yourself overcoming obstacles
Do you know that daydreaming is also a good way to solve your problems? Just imagine yourself facing the obstacles and see yourself overcoming them.
There will be problems and obstacles regardless of whether you think about them or not, so, use your imagination to better anticipate them when they arrive.
Plus, when you consider the possible problems you will face, you will make your planning better. And when the problems come, you will have the confidence and you already know what you need to do to solve them.
4. Work on low-attention activities
You can boost the effectiveness of your daydream by working at activities that require no or less attention.
Activities such as sweeping the floor, gardening, coloring, knitting, or light-hearted doodling help boost your daydream effect.
Thus, you may consider daydream while doing those activities. As long as what you do isn’t going to take much of your attention and thinking power, it helps boost your mind focus better with your daydreaming process.
5. Walk and daydream
Steve Jobs was famous for his walk-meeting. Every time he needed more ideas or engage in serious business talk, he would ask the person for a walk and then talked about the issue.
Walking is a form of low-attention activity. But walking is easy, and it can be done anywhere, even within your house.
You can just walk around your house and think about your dreams. Allow your mind to wander as you walk.
The author of How to Be Idle, Tom Hodgkinson explains in his book that walking is never an end in itself. When we walk, our minds are free to think.
Unless you are checking your phone while you walk, you can allow your mind to freely wander and daydream about the success you desire.
Beethoven claimed he wrote music in his head while walking in the streets around Vienna, which he did every day without fail, regardless of the weather. Such is the power of walking for creativity.
6. Record your ideas and inspirations
We tend to forget about ideas and things. So, if you are not writing down your ideas generated from your daydreaming session, you will waste your effort and time.
Hence, write down your ideas and inspirations.
Don’t just do it for fun. Your mind is giving you inspirations of how you can improve and ideas about what you can do to perform better, why do you want to waste them, right?
So, record your thoughts and jot down everything. Daydreaming can be a great brainstorming session where it gives you plenty of possible ideas for improvement.
And you can think logically and consider what ideas to implement after you daydream.
Daydream Yourself to Success
It all begins with an idea. And so, you must make time to daydream.
Don’t be afraid to schedule time for a daydream, for it is the playground of your mind. It boosts your creativity and helps you solve problems when you least expected it.
Make sure you follow up your daydream with actions. After all, it is not just a daydream if you decide to make it your life.