Having trouble coming up with creative angles for your content?
Beating your head against the wall trying to come up with fresh ideas that take your online marketing from good to great?
Maybe you should take a nap.
Or drift off into a daydream.
And if you’re like most people, you’re definitely not getting enough sleep at night.
All of the above seems to go against the grain of what we expect. It’s the hard-charging, grind-it-out entrepreneur who wins the game, right?
Not necessarily.
Check out this article I wrote for Lateral Action about enhancing creativity with sleep and daydreams. Sleeping in or indulging in a daydream may be the most productive thing you do all day.
About the Author: Brian Clark is Executive Editor of Copyblogger and co-founder of DIY Themes, creator of the innovative Thesis Theme for WordPress. Get more from Brian on Twitter.
Reader Comments (34)
I agree, daydreaming helps expand your mind outside your normal boundries and this is where you can get the best ideas. Ok they may not be ideas you will do anything with, but there is always a possibility they could lead somewhere.
Plus 1 on that Garry
Dreaming/Day dreaming is like booster to your imagination, You can come up with weirdest idea, i some times get some weird ideas while dreaming but i seldom remember what it was.
I think that the smartest individual wins not the hardest worker.
People who day dream often usually have great imaginations and imaginations is what it takes to consistently come up with great copy and content.
Franklin — dead on. A few months ago, I decided to stop spending so much time on my site, and focus only on doing one “smart” thing every day. My productivity and income skyrocketed.
I am a nightowl by nature, but I try to be in bed by midnight so I can drive my kids to school, and then even if I don’t have to at work that day, I just stay up and keep a normal schedule. Every night, when my husband goes to , I sit in the bed with a spiral notebook and a pen, and I write down all the ideas I want to tackle the next day. I usually wind up with a deluge of things to do. I have found this really helps me keep up with the ideas that blossom in what seems to be a very creative point in my day.
I have no idea about how day dreaming helps because I haven’t tried it yet or rather not made the connections yet but I have used sleeping dreams to help in getting ideas for some of my copy ideas. It has been infrequent but it has always been effective and successful most of the instances. Too bad it’s tough to force anything to happen in your sleeping dreams.
Ralph Phillips was my favorite: http://media.photobucket.com/image/Ralph%20Phillips/dendk/bd_kid1.jpg
Thanks, just the excuse I’ve been looking for to slack off!!
I really notice a difference in both the quality of my ideas and my writing when I’m tired. I write using humour and if I haven’t had enough sleep I’m about as funny as a pain in your neck, which incidentally I am if I haven’t had enough sleep!
I just took a nap. I feel amazing!
Gonna go blog now. Check me out.
I was tearing my hair out to get a blog post done by deadline. In sheer frustration, I walked my dogs into a thunderstorm and came back with a fully-formed post in my head (see URL above). I think it’s one of my best yet. Spot on again, Brian! P. 🙂
I need a couple of good daydreams today because I am a complete blank today.
Balance, balance, balance.
Give yourself a solid cross-section of opportunities and watch the vantage point for your perspective… too general or too specific and too much is lost.
I don’t know about you, but 8/10 times my best ideas come soon after my head hits the pillow at night. That’s just the time when your chattering mind stops long enough for real inspiration to get through!
Right on!
Now only if I can get the client to buy into this…
It is a very difficult task to come up with fresh and new content always. But if you are passionate about the topic that you are blogging about, then content should never be a problem. Having said that it was a refreshing idea to know that “Daydreaming” could help you get new content.
That picture you have with the article is *so* me right now 😛
“A single extraordinary idea is worth much more than thousands of hours of foolish productivity.”
Thanks for the article. I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent in front of the screen (and not touch it) trying to find a flow. Step away and chill for a bit with a nap… what easy advice to follow.
A rested mine makes you more productive and creative in all things. I think Captain Kirk would really appreciate this perspective.
By the way Brian, claim your Lemonade Award at MartyBLOGs today. Have a good one.
Boy DAYDREAMING I have not tried yet but after reading these above me and your article I think I will give it a try . Some times the wife thinks I day dream when she is talking to me. I don’t think so. When I start writing a blog I will give it a try.
I meant a rested “mind”. (Where’s spell check?) 😛
Wake up and get to work!
Some of the best thoughts come when one is thinking about something completely unrelated to the focus. The subconscious does a pretty good job of keeping things at some level of awareness, and often all it takes is that one semi-related connection.
Diversity really is the key… that and not focusing too much on one thing, as Brian has stated.
Sure it is a technique that Thomas Edison used to come up with ideas for his inventions. If it works for inventors it will work for writers too.
Brian,
Not sure if you’re aware of this, but many of the studies have shown that it isn’t sleeping or dreaming that makes us more creative and cognizant, it’s the way our brain works shortly after waking.
That’s why, to some degree, daydreaming works, and why under some circumstances a nap is as good as a long night’s sleep.
After I have a quick snooze or wake up in the morning, I usually have a few creative ideas that send me off to writing something interesting and engaging. Thanks for the great post!
One piece of advise I was given when at University was to keep a pen and pad of paper my by bedside. Dreams can trigger all sorts of inspiration that can be then remembered and enhanced the following morning. Unfortunately day naps aren’t an option especially for those of us that write in an office. However, a break from one particular article or press release can act in the same way and refresh ideas just without the luxury of a duvet.
I was tearing my hair out to get a blog post done by deadline. In sheer frustration, I walked my dogs into a thunderstorm and came back with a fully-formed post in my head (see URL above). I think it’s one of my best yet. Spot on again,
I just took a nap. I feel amazing!
Gonna go blog now. Check me out.
Good info thanks for sharing with us.Nice information, valuable and excellent, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need, thanks for all the enthusiasm to offer such helpful information here…
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