Sleep on it?
Some people say – just sleep on it. You’ll figure it out. But what if you figure out it in the
middle of the night? Should you actually wake up and write down your thought – at 3:00 am?
Well, I say yes. If you don’t, then you risk the embarrassing morning self-doubt where you
recall a tidbit but not the heart of your world-changing early morning discovery.
Scientific researchers have discovered that the brain is most creative during and immediately
after sleep. The most analytical parts of the brain become more active. A study reported in the
March 2013 edition of Journal of Neurophysiology compared morning and evening MRI scans.
It observed that the morning scans displayed more connections to the brain that are important to
the creative process.
So, don’t worry about going to your home office in the middle of the night after awakening with
that significant thought. Get up, write it down and then go back to sleep. For starters, you’ll be
surprised at the clarity of what you discovered. And, you’ll actually sleep better when you return
to your bed. If you don’t, you’ll just toss and turn anyway.