Page 38 - The Business Idea Factory: A World-Class System for Creating Successful Business Ideas

Incubation period

If after a per io d o f intense thinking yo u didn’t g ener ate an excellent idea, fo r g et abo ut the pr o blem
and switch to a completely different activity. Your analytical brain has set a program for your creative
brain, which will continue thinking about the problem 24/7 in the back of your mind.

During the time when you don’t consciously focus on the problem, the creative brain makes random
co nnectio ns between millio ns o f tho ug hts in the back o f yo ur mind, and o nce it sees that o ne o f the
connections seems interesting it says, “Eureka! Here is an interesting idea.” The more time your
subconscious mind thinks about a problem, the more connections it makes and the higher the
probability that a successful business idea will be generated.

A majo r ity o f scientists and entr epr eneur s r epo r ted that they g o t their best ideas and insig hts while
not actively thinking about the problem. The best ideas come when you forget about the problem and
least expect them: while tr aveling , shaving , taking a sho wer, standing in line, jo g g ing , talking to a
friend, watching a play at the theater or sleeping.

When after an initial brainstorming session the flow of ideas dries up, get back to your everyday life.
To keep the creative brain active, let it know that you still need ideas by occasionally thinking about
the pr o blem fo r few minutes fr o m time to time. Gr eat inno vato r s ar e pr o ducing successful business
ideas not because they work harder than others, but because they use an effective thinking process.
Although the work that the subconscious mind does during the incubation period is invisible, it is the
most essential part of this process.

C.G. Suits, the legendary Chief Scientist at General Electric, said: “All the discoveries in research
laboratories came as hunches during a period of relaxation, following a period of intensive thinking
and fact gathering.”

Ber tr and Russell, the Br itish lo g ician and mathematician, said: “I have fo und, fo r example, that if I
have to write upon some rather difficult topic, the best plan is to think about it with very great
intensity – the greatest intensity of which I am capable – for a few hours or days, and at the end of that
time give orders, so to speak (to my subconscious mind) that the work is to proceed underground.
After some months I return consciously to the topic and find that the work has been done.”

When Carl Sagan, the American astronomer, got stuck on one project he moved to another one,
allowing his subconscious to do the work. He wrote: “When you come back, you find to your
amazement, nine times out of ten, that you have solved your problem – or your unconscious has –
without you even knowing it.”