Hyper-Focus Creates Breakthroughs
Edition #06 of THE BLUEPRINT
Dmitri Mendeleev’s arrangement of the elements into the periodic table came to him in a dream. After working for many hours, struggling on the brink of a breakthrough, he nodded off:
“I saw in a dream a table where all the elements fell into place as required. Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.”
Niels Bohr dreamt of the atom structure and electron behavior, Einstein dreamt of relativity, and German chemist Friedrich August Kekulé was revealed the structure of Benzene, leading to visual structuring of all aromatic compounds.
These are a lot of big words and old people…what’s the big deal?
Let’s first make this more relatable:
Let’s imagine you want very strongly to secure a role within the next two years at Boston Consulting Group, a top ranked global consulting firm. By keeping this at the front of your mind while you navigate classes, relationships, social engagements, and work experiences, you begin to make mental connections. Your mind, focused on learning and applying consulting, will identify situations where you can provide value and recommendations. You will begin to think in frameworks, as is demanded within consulting, and will keep up to date with important consulting changes and decisions within the industry.
The scientists mentioned above are well-known for the strong dedication applied to their work. Through the constant collection of information and their minds bending their perceptions to new scientific findings, their subconscious is able to synthesize and organize this into better understanding. This is the reason for their breakthroughs in sleep - they are hyper-focused on their craft and their subconscious uses available information to connect the dots.
My theory: If we do not become hyper-focused, our subconscious will have a scattered array of information to filter, and no breakthroughs will come our way.
Just like Mendeleev, Bohr, and others achieved breakthroughs by aligning their conscious effort with their subconscious mind, we can train our minds to work in our favor by focusing on our goals. We must dedicate our thoughts and actions to creating the life we envision. Through engulfing our mind with these thoughts, we will make connections, either consciously or subconsciously, that bring us closer to our ultimate goal.
Manifestation and visualization are buzzwords today, but they boil down to the same idea. Manifestation is to make something real. More distinctly, let’s say it is bringing your desired lifestyle into a reality through defining goals and taking action. And visualization is creating mental imagery to communicate ideas. Again, let’s define this as crafting visual imagery around your desired lifestyle to foster heightened motivation to pursue your goals.
These are two tactics you can use to increase experience thinking about your outcome. The more you manifest, the more you think and act on your goals. The more you visualize, the better you can see what you desire. The point is, this is what fills your mind and fills your worldly perceptions. Therefore, you will naturally move in your desired direction.
The problem I want to call out is most people have their future somewhat defined. You want better, you want to increase your lifestyle, you want to make a change, but neglect utilizing your mind to the maximum. And you do this by filling your mind with input unassociated with what you desire.
I do not believe there is a right answer; do what you will! I do want to showcase; however, the connection between those who achieve and those who fail to do so. There is no surprise that those who work harder and spend more time developing their skillset tend to out compete those who do not. And while actively shooting a basketball will increase your skills, so will thinking about it.
So I encourage you - activate your mind towards development. Deeply connect your thoughts to your goals and watch as your subconscious works for you. The brain consistently filters and organizes information, so give it the correct information to move you forward.
Tips:
Consume to Learn: Movies, TV shows, and high production content most of the time (yes, Napoleon Dynamite exists) are made artfully and with strong creative motives. Identify content that aligns with what you would like to learn and become fully engaged with it. I will take notes on my favorite YouTube channels or watch a movie for the intent of understanding storytelling better.
Allow Yourself Time to Think: Living in a world full of marketing tricks and excitement at our fingertips, it is easy and addictive to ram our minds full of input. But it is when we stop for a moment and let our minds develop what we have taken in that we gain knowledge. My favorite way to give my brain time is walking and running/exercising without headphones. The only mental input is visual and environment specific, and I can think freely here.
Become Intentional with Dreams: It is very possible to stimulate your subconscious before sleeping and find some interesting results. This is what has worked for me: Sitting in my bed, I will think deeply for about 15 minutes on a certain topic. Importantly, I will try to identify any potential barriers that may be inhibiting my thought processes: social constructs or rose-colored glasses for example. Then, I will fall asleep, while keeping my mind open, intentionally not shutting down my mental conversation. And I have gotten some fascinating results! If you do try this, keep a journal next to your bed!
My Call-to-Action:
Find one area in your life where you consume input not directly related to your goals and test removing it for a week or restructuring this time towards your goals. And quickly, input is not just your social media feed, but rather anything that goes into your mind. Music, relationships, activity engagement…everything is input.
Example: Instead of listening to music in your car, go for a drive with no music. Or try listening to a goal-related podcast.
Peace!
Spencer Abts
Link to Dmitri Mendeleev's invention of the periodic table in his dream
