A-Ha, Awakening, "Eureka!", Lightbulb.....

Hi Everyone!

You may have guessed from the headline, I am talking about different ways we describe those defining moments where the fog clears away and in a moment....a stunning moment all the pieces come together and we GET IT!

Its been said that this is how Einstein "awakened" to the Theory of Relativity.

What do you call such moments? I have often called them "Epiphanies" or "A-ha's".

What about you? I am doing some research, looking for the most universal ways to describe this experience. I just *knew* this would be the place to find the answer.

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE JORDAN SCOTT


Dare....................

Hi Julie!

I sometimes say, "It just clicked!"

Other times I say, "It came together."

What fun research! I hope you share all your responses.

Blessings,
Brenda


For $6, You Won't Want to Miss This!

Hi Brenda!

Thanks for your response!

> What fun research! I hope you share all your
> responses.

***There are some really wonderful discussions here on the board, I hope you have had the chance to read them!

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE

Hi Julie!

> You may have guessed from the headline, I am
> talking about different ways we describe
> those defining moments where the fog clears
> away and in a moment....a stunning moment
> all the pieces come together and we GET IT!

> Its been said that this is how Einstein
> "awakened" to the Theory of
> Relativity.

> What do you call such moments? I have often
> called them "Epiphanies" or
> "A-ha's".

> What about you? I am doing some research,
> looking for the most universal ways to
> describe this experience. I just *knew* this
> would be the place to find the answer.

Julie, I've researched this topic too, especially when I was getting my grounding as a scientist....

Those flashes of insight, those sudden crystallizing moments, when all you have worked towards hits you in a blinding flash of clarity....

They are euphoric too, when you realize you finally have the answer you've spent all that time seeking!

Among famous scientists and mathematicians, it seems to me that one who took some time to analyze this phenomenon is the mathematician Henri Poincare.... Here's a summary of his insights (taken from here)....

Based on his own experiences, Poincare concluded that these "eureka!" moments had these things in common....

* They came after a period of conscious work (thinking about the problem), followed by a period of "unconscious work" (this may happen after a sleep, or after a few days not actively thinking about the problem)....

* After the period of unconscious work, sometimes some further conscious work is needed to further clarify the idea and put it on a firm foothold....

* He concluded the "unconscious" part of the work was not something merely mechanical, but used intelligent sub-conscious processes in your mind....

* When the unconscious brings the "eureka!" idea back to the conscious mind, it is sometimes not fruitful (it may even turn out in the end to be incorrect), but it was nevertheless promising or elegant in some way....

* What the unconscious mind brings to the conscious mind is not necessarily always the final solution, but a highly promising "point of departure" to start working from....

Here's a VERY interesting example of this process. I don't know if anyone here is familiar with benzene, which is a chemical compound consisting of 6 carbon atoms and 6 hydrogen atoms linked together....

Back in the 19th century, they didn't know the structure of benzene, of how these atoms linked to one another. However, a young German chemist by the name of Friedrich August Kekule was working on the problem, when he took an afternoon nap.

In his dream, long chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms were twisting and turning in a snake-like motion....

Suddenly, he saw one of these snake-like chains of atoms turn into a circle, as if it was grabbing its own tail!

He awoke, and he had come up with the chemical structure for benzene, as a result of the workings of his sub-conscious mind.... Since that was the answer to the puzzle they were looking for -- the chemical structure of benzene is a hexagonal ring of carbon atoms, with one hydrogen atom attached to each carbon atom.

I know a lot about this type of creative process from the writings of scientists (particularly physicists), yet I believe the process of creativity is the same no matter what field it is you are talking about.... Whether solving a scientific problem or a business one.

I think a good approach is to think about the problem consciously, turn it around and every way in your head.... For a few hours or a few days (depending on how difficult the problem is)....

Then, give it a period of rest. Perhaps overnight when you sleep, or even leave it alone for a few days....

If you've given your sub-conscious mind the "raw material" to work with, some promising possibilities may arise in a "eureka!"-like moment.... Often when you least expect it. :)

Well, I know I meandered a bit Julie, but I hope your research goes well.... Please share some of your results here.... :)

Regarding Einstein, I've read that the "seed" for the theory of relativity came from thoughts he had as a teenager.... He used to think about what it would be like to ride on a wave of light, and then look back on another wave of light.... What would it look like?

What if he was riding a wave of light, and held a flashlight -- what would happen to the light from the flashlight?

These thought-experiments were the foundation to the theory of relativity. (One of the ideas from relativity is that the speed of light is constant, and that it is impossible for anything with mass to travel at the speed of light.) I've also done a study of thought experiments (and created my own thought experiments in my own physics research work)....

I believe that thought-experiments have a place in business too! But I'm still investigating this.... Maybe others have some insight here?

Thanks Julie, fantastic topic! :)

- Dien

About 1984 a product called "Photo Business Cards" came out. Someone had developed a processor that would combine a film negative with text and whala...you had a full color PHOTO business card.

A few companies were offering Dealerships in the Biz-Op mags so I bought one thinking that Aspenites would go ga-ga for these. (I was living near Aspen, CO at the time)

I got my sample kit...put together a presentation and went out and tried to sell them and....I flopped!

After 2 weeks of intensive work I had only gotten 2 orders. It was the PRICE of $250 per 1000. I could not convince people that they should pay 10 times what they pay for regular cards...for these FULL COLOR PHOTO beauties.

I tried everything...even giving away a few orders just so I had a few LOCAL samples to show.

I'll never forget it...it was a Sunday night. We were watching a video movie. The video was in the VCR...the plastic case the video came in, was setting on the coffee table in front of me.

Also on the coffee table were some of my sample Photo Cards. Because I wasn't that interested in the movie I started playing with the cards...handing them back and forth between hands...laying them down in front of me...THEN, strictly BY ACCIDENT, I accidently put a card on top of the closed plastic video case. I saw that the card FIT PERFECTLY across the width...I then put 2 more cards on the case and found that 3 cards would fit perfectly on each side of that case.

I could fit SIX cards on the case.

WHALA!!! IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!!!

Why don't I make up special plastic cases with a full sleeve across the front and back and stick in
the 6 cards?....and get the video stores to hand them out with their videos?

I dropped everything...went into my home office...found my Press-Type (this was in the days before "publishing" programs)...put together some sample cases and a presentation to both video store owners and prospective customers.

The next morning I went to my first video store...showed him my samples and asked if I provided him with FREE plastic cases would he agree to hand out MY Photo Card Cases?

He thought for a minute...rubbed his chin...looked at me...looked at his wife...looked back at me and said..."Sure! Why not! I'll do it!

So...I was off to the races. I wound up getting all 7 video stores in Aspen to participate AND, the really amazing thing...the SAME people who had turned me down for a $250 order of cards were NOW paying me $495 for 3 months exposure on my Video Rental Case program.

With each customer I also gave them 50 cards to hand out and...sure nuff...just as I had expected...once they started using the cards and got a great positive reaction from those they gave them to...they called me and ORDERED MORE CARDS!!!

I was having a BALL! One day I was reading Entrepreneur Magazine and thought, "Hey! I wonder if anyone else in the country is doing THIS?"

So I called their editorial dept and asked to speak with an editor. Someone came on the line and I asked him if he knew of anyone else in the country who was making money placing photo business cards on video rental cases.

He asked me to hold on a minute. Then 2 more people came on line and he asked me to tell them what I was doing. I did and they asked me to send them some samples and a "News Release" and a photo.

I scurried thru my collection of "mail order info" books I had bought over the years...found one on "How To Get Publicity"...turned to the section on How To Write a News Release.

I wrote what I thought was a pretty good Release...about how I had stumbled across this idea on selling Photo Biz Cards. My wife took a picture of me holding a few cases. I sent this with a few samples to the guy at Entrepreneur and WAITED...and WAITED...and WAITED!

I didn't want to call to bug them about whether they were going to run the story...so I just WAITED...and WAITED.

On the 20th I went to my local newstand...flipped thru the pages and to my disappointment...NO ARTICLE!

So...I shrugged my shoulders, went home and pretty much forgot about it when one afternoon the following month (The 18th)...I go into my home office (spare bedrm)...look at the answering machine on my desk and IT WAS BLINKING "40"..."40"..."40".

This meant it had reached it's limit of 40 calls.

So I hit the button to retrieve the first message. I'll NEVER FORGET the excited voice,

"Hey Don! This is Stan King in Omaha! Send me the info on how I can get that Video Thing going here in Omaha!" He left his address and phone and I quickly hit the button for the next call.

SAME THING! Someone else wanting me to RUSH them info on how to start up a similar biz in their town. They were ALL like that.

And...no sooner had I deleted a few messages when the phone rang again. Another inquiry.

So...I spent the next few days trying to figure out a "Biz-Op Starter Kit" I could put together.

I came up with a Sales Letter...sent it to the inquiries and I was off and running.

When the dust cleared on this one i had sold over 800 "Kits" at $495 ea. I eventually wound upo selling close to a thousand of the Kits.

As these things go...a few who bought my Kit...copied it and started advertising it as theirs...which ticked me off BUT, I figured this was part of the "game".

I've had other "AHA" experiences which I won't go into here...but THIS one was my biggest.

I hope you enjoyed reading about it and maybe it offered some inspiration to someone.

Thanks for reading.....Don Alm




Some of my past programs

Hi Don!

WOW! What an inspirational story of how to take a "ho-hum, tried it didn't work" and TOTALLY turn it around!

>THEN, strictly BY ACCIDENT, I
> accidently put a card on top of the closed
> plastic video case. I saw that the card FIT
> PERFECTLY across the width...I then put 2
> more cards on the case and found that 3
> cards would fit perfectly on each side of
> that case.

> I could fit SIX cards on the case.

> WHALA!!! IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS!!!

> Why don't I make up special plastic cases
> with a full sleeve across the front and back
> and stick in
> the 6 cards?....and get the video stores to
> hand them out with their videos?

***Many people would not have even noticed...much less created, something innovative like you did here, Don.

Thank you for a lesson in possibilities! The imagery is so clear, I feel like I was with you EVERY step of the way AND it invites me to think more creatively as well.

In Gratitude,

JULIE JORDAN SCOTT




Created with Purpose and Passion

Hi Don,

That's a great true story! :)

I like how your story had two parts to it.... You profited from it twice.

First, as a product, the business-card-on-the-video-box promotion....

And secondly, as a business "kit"!

That shows a real master stroke there.... :)

Thanks!

- Dien

Hi Dien,

What is the answer?

"What if he was riding a wave of light, and held a flashlight -- what would happen to the light from the flashlight?"

Would the light from the flashlight he is holding travel at the same speed... or twice as fast, what? I'm thinking same speed... but not sure.

Thanks,

Andrew

> Hi Julie!

> Julie, I've researched this topic too,
> especially when I was getting my grounding
> as a scientist....

> Those flashes of insight, those sudden
> crystallizing moments, when all you have
> worked towards hits you in a blinding flash
> of clarity....

> They are euphoric too, when you realize you
> finally have the answer you've spent all
> that time seeking!

> Among famous scientists and mathematicians,
> it seems to me that one who took some time
> to analyze this phenomenon is the
> mathematician Henri Poincare.... Here's a
> summary of his insights (taken from here
> )....

> Based on his own experiences, Poincare
> concluded that these "eureka!"
> moments had these things in common....

> * They came after a period of conscious
> work (thinking about the problem), followed
> by a period of "unconscious work"
> (this may happen after a sleep, or after a
> few days not actively thinking about the
> problem)....

> * After the period of unconscious work,
> sometimes some further conscious work is
> needed to further clarify the idea and put
> it on a firm foothold....

> * He concluded the "unconscious"
> part of the work was not something merely
> mechanical, but used intelligent
> sub-conscious processes in your mind....

> * When the unconscious brings the
> "eureka!" idea back to the
> conscious mind, it is sometimes not fruitful
> (it may even turn out in the end to be
> incorrect), but it was nevertheless
> promising or elegant in some way....

> * What the unconscious mind brings to the
> conscious mind is not necessarily always the
> final solution, but a highly promising
> "point of departure" to start
> working from....

> Here's a VERY interesting example of this
> process. I don't know if anyone here is
> familiar with benzene, which is a chemical
> compound consisting of 6 carbon atoms and 6
> hydrogen atoms linked together....

> Back in the 19th century, they didn't know
> the structure of benzene, of how these atoms
> linked to one another. However, a young
> German chemist by the name of Friedrich
> August Kekule was working on the problem,
> when he took an afternoon nap.

> In his dream, long chains of carbon and
> hydrogen atoms were twisting and turning in
> a snake-like motion....

> Suddenly, he saw one of these snake-like
> chains of atoms turn into a circle, as if it
> was grabbing its own tail!

> He awoke, and he had come up with the
> chemical structure for benzene, as a result
> of the workings of his sub-conscious
> mind.... Since that was the answer to the
> puzzle they were looking for -- the chemical
> structure of benzene is a hexagonal ring of
> carbon atoms, with one hydrogen atom
> attached to each carbon atom.

> I know a lot about this type of creative
> process from the writings of scientists
> (particularly physicists), yet I believe the
> process of creativity is the same no matter
> what field it is you are talking about....
> Whether solving a scientific problem or a
> business one.

> I think a good approach is to think about
> the problem consciously, turn it around and
> every way in your head.... For a few hours
> or a few days (depending on how difficult
> the problem is)....

> Then, give it a period of rest. Perhaps
> overnight when you sleep, or even leave it
> alone for a few days....

> If you've given your sub-conscious mind the
> "raw material" to work with, some
> promising possibilities may arise in a
> "eureka!"-like moment.... Often
> when you least expect it. :)

> Well, I know I meandered a bit Julie, but I
> hope your research goes well.... Please
> share some of your results here.... :)

> Regarding Einstein, I've read that the
> "seed" for the theory of
> relativity came from thoughts he had as a
> teenager.... He used to think about what it
> would be like to ride on a wave of light,
> and then look back on another wave of
> light.... What would it look like?

> What if he was riding a wave of light, and
> held a flashlight -- what would happen to
> the light from the flashlight?

> These thought-experiments were the
> foundation to the theory of relativity. (One
> of the ideas from relativity is that the
> speed of light is constant, and that it is
> impossible for anything with mass to travel
> at the speed of light.) I've also done a
> study of thought experiments (and created my
> own thought experiments in my own physics
> research work)....

> I believe that thought-experiments have a
> place in business too! But I'm still
> investigating this.... Maybe others have
> some insight here?

> Thanks Julie, fantastic topic! :)

> - Dien

Hi Andrew,

> What is the answer?

> "What if he was riding a wave of light,
> and held a flashlight -- what would happen
> to the light from the flashlight?"

> Would the light from the flashlight he is
> holding travel at the same speed... or twice
> as fast, what? I'm thinking same speed...
> but not sure.

Heheh, yes, the answer would be same speed.... :)

Light is very strange, since in the emptiness of space, it always travels at the same speed, no matter how fast the "source" of light is going....

Good thinking! :)

However, another part of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity is that objects with mass (that is, almost everything EXCEPT light) CANNOT go at the speed of light.... So it would be physically impossible for a person (or a flashlight) to "ride" on a light wave.... But the whole exercise of thinking about it helped to lead Einstein to these great insights!

- Dien

Hi Dien!

> I believe that thought-experiments have a
> place in business too! But I'm still
> investigating this.... Maybe others have
> some insight here?

***I am not sure about business thought-experiments, but I have read and started practicing the principles in a fantastic book called "Sleep Thinking" by Eric Maisel. Its fascinating stuff...the Benzene example reminded me of it.

I have put a link to Eric Maisel's Sleep Thinking site below, as well.

With Purpose and Passion,

JULIE

> Thanks Julie, fantastic topic! :)

> - Dien




Discover More about Sleep Thinking Here