The Power of Daydreaming

The most dynamic and innovative people in any endeavor--business, science, athletics, politics, or the arts--are visionaries. And what exactly is a "vision?" At the end of the day I argue that a "vision" is just an upscale word for "daydream," and "visionary," an upscale word for daydreamer. . . . When people say they "dream" of being president or a billionaire or an artist or whatever it is they fantasize about--they are daydreaming those goals, literally envisioning them in their mind's eye. Read More

We daydream for a variety of reasons, and one reason is that daydreams give us hope and help us get through the rough and boring patches of life. This isn't a small thing. All of us face our challenging days, and without the capacity to envision a brighter future or new goals, life would be bleak indeed. Could it be that when the world goes flat and gray that our daydreams have ceased to work their magic and the world looks one-dimensional, without possibilities, without hope? Read More

We've all had the experience when we've been in an argument with someone and then mentally rehash the conversation in a daydream, fine-tuning and improving our performance. In the fantasized version, we undoubtedly make the perfect comeback remark or score the debate-winning point. In these kinds of daydreams we're analyzing conversations, giving ourselves an ego boost in the face of a stressful event, and planning how we might better deal with a similar situation in the future. Read More

To daydream or not to daydream . . . and why do we have to make that choice? Yet we get conflicting messages on this all the time. In the abstract, we tend to admire traits such as creativity and imagination, yet we're constantly told to focus, to live in the present moment and not think about the future or the past, to be mindful only of what is and not what could be. Read More