Are You Daydreaming Enough?
Have you ever gotten in trouble for daydreaming and been called absent minded or a space cadet? Do you catch yourself zoning out or having your mind wander and chastise yourself for doing so?
To some, daydreaming and having your head in the clouds is a time waster, a sign of distractedness, or laziness and procrastination. I even googled daydreaming and the top of the page was articles on how to stop daydreaming and get to work!
Daydreaming is for Creatives
However, according to Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire in their book, Wired to Create, daydreaming is one of the 10 things successful highly creative people do differently.
Psychologist, Rebecca Millman, claims that daydreaming or mind wandering can be rewarding by offering “creative incubation, self-awareness, future-planning, reflection on the meaning of one’s experiences, and even compassion.” Of course, this daydreaming needs to be a positive one, or referred to as positive-constructive daydreaming, which does not include anxious, obsessive, and negative fantasies.
Kaufman and Gregoire’s studies show that daydreaming leads to improvements in creative thinking. In fact, they suggest taking a 5-minute daydreaming break every hour or so at work to see how it affects your ideas and work. This break is a simple activity of walking, doodling, or cleaning - where you can be alone and allow your mind to wander.
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Aurora Borealis, painted in my Dynamic Skies in Watercolor Zoom Course |
Daydreaming is for Goal Setters
Daydreaming and free visualization is not only imperative for creatives to come up with ideas, but it also helps in accomplishing future goals. Studies have shown that thinking or dreaming about obtaining one of your goals often, helps you to want it even more and will even lead to action in accomplishing it.
However, it is not just enough to daydream about the end goal, such as winning that award or being in the Venice Biennial. Part of daydreaming is thinking about the hard stuff, or problem-oriented daydreaming. These mind wanderings include how to achieve that end goal and the steps or problems it will take to get where you want to go.
Using Daydreaming to Make A Plan
I find that working backwards from an end goal is a great way to accomplish it.
For example, having a solo show or exhibition of your work. You might start off daydreaming about the opening reception – a crowded room of people viewing and buying your work. There is lots of interest, laughter, conversations, and red dots. That is the end goal. But what does it take to get there?
Working backwards, you could imagine yourself dropping off the work and being in the gallery or exhibition space as the pieces are hung. What do these pieces look like? Are they big or small? How many? Are they landscapes, still lifes, or portraits? Now you have a better idea of what you want to paint for this solo exhibition and the number of pieces you would need for this exhibition.
You also want to think about marketing. Can you picture yourself sending out postcards and social media blasts? Do you think a paid ad will work or will the affair be exclusive to those on your email list?
Next, imagine yourself framing those pieces. How are they framed? What does that look like? How long will all this framing take? (It is also a good idea to imagine running into problems at this point. Such as, the frames you want are on backorder or the glass breaks, etc. This is where the Plan B for stuff like this is formed. Trust me on this one. I know from experience that there are always framing issues!)
And before you frame, you need to think about all the pieces that are waiting to be framed. How many was this again? Imagine them finally all completed and signed. Can’t you feel that great sense of being done?
And how do you get to that many pieces? They had to be painted, right? Daydream about yourself painting them. Think of how it feels to hold that brush or palette knife. Think of the subject matter and the size. Where are you? Are you in your studio? Kitchen table? Or are you outside by a lake or in a street in Paris? Is it during the day or is it at night after the kids have gone to bed?
Daydreaming for Future Problem Solving
Once you have imagined yourself happily painting away, you need to daydream about the hard work. Try to imagine yourself setting side time every day to paint or being bone tired after a long day of work and you still need to get something done. What does that look like? Do you see yourself doing something else when you are too tired to paint? Could you stretch canvas? Order more paint? Clean your palette for the next day? Is there an email that you can write to a potential buyer or update your website?
By doing all this problem-oriented daydreaming, you now have a plan, and you have a plan for when things go differently than what you expected and wanted.
It is this type of visualization where innovation comes alive, where fantasies become more tangible, and the impossible becomes possible.
Dreamer, never let it be said that to dream is a waste of one's time, for dreams are our realities in waiting. In dreams, we plant the seeds of our future. - Unknown
