Chapter 5 - How to think for great ideas

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How to think for great ideas	195

your problem has been defined mathematically, try to visualize some answers. Remember how Albert Einstein's theory of relativity came to him after he'd been daydreaming, imagining that he was travelling through space on a moonbeam.
  Mind Mapping, too, is an excellent creative tool - to link information together in new ways, on new branches, in new clusters, so your ideas are not merely listed in one-dimensional lines.
  Work at it until your head swims. Then . . .

8. Switch off - let it simmer
 
  Like good food after you've eaten it, let your digestive juices take over and do the work - in this case the digestive juices of your own subconscious. Note the relaxation techniques we've touched on in accelerated learning, to put your brain into its most receptive and creative mode.

9. Use music or nature to relax
 
  Many people find it pays to play relaxing classical music, visit an art gallery or go for a walk by a river or the sea. Anything that opens up the mind to new combinations.
  Different techniques work for different people. One of the present authors has always found chess a positive creative stimulant - mainly because of the way every move opens up new possibilities. Other people find chess too focused. The other co-author finds swimming and walking more effective.

10. Sleep on it
 
  Just before going to sleep at night, remind yourself of the problem - and the ideal solution. If you have a set deadline, feed that into your "brain-bank" too. And then your subconscious mind will take over. It never sleeps.
  But as advertising leader David Ogilvy puts it: "You have to brief your subconscious. Then you have to switch off your thought processes and wait for something, for your subconscious to call you and say, 'Hey, I've got a good idea!' There are ways to do that. A lot of people find that to take a long hot bath produces good ideas. Other people prefer a long walk. I've always found that wine produces good ideas - the better the wine the better the idea."9

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