3 Secrets About Sparking Your Imagination That You Didn't Know

Imagination is a superpower. ??

Harness it and you're an unstoppable force.

There's a lot to gain—vision and goal setting, problem-solving and innovation, monetization and differentiation, resilience and adaptability, empathy and understanding, and personal growth and wellbeing.

Imagination fitness is one of the most critical capabilities that you and your company can develop and strengthen in times of uncertainty. And let's face it, uncertainty is here to stay.

Under pressure, being imaginative is also one of the most challenging things to do. Yet research shows that companies that do so generate significant value. In recessions and downturns , 14% of organizations outperform both historically and competitively, by investing in new growth areas.

While you can make money off a declining business model for years, data shows that once an organization runs up against a major stall in its growth, it has less than a 10% chance of ever fully recovering.

There's certainly a lot at stake.

Imagination is the ability to create an idea of something that doesn’t yet exist.

It allows you to explore what’s possible, like a mental exploration of unfamiliar territory.

During times of accelerating change and unprecedented uncertainty, leaders often focus on the immediate and short-term.

But to create opportunities for innovation, adaptation and growth, you need to ask imagination-provoking questions, and shift your mindset towards what could be rather than what is.

Though we have a long way to go to fully understand imagination, we have important insights from cognitive science, neuroscience and the humanities.

Imagination is a neurological reality . Our brains are constantly updating with numerous cognitive functions that enable this awesome power that humans have.

In psychology, imagination is called counterfactual thinking, which is the human tendency to create possible alternatives.?

In the age of A.I., we must better understand and harness our unique human capacities like imagination.?

As the boundaries between us and machines shift, remember that computers still lack certain capabilities essential to imagination.?

There are 3 aspects to the imagination process which the human brain can uniquely employ:?

1. Imagination is about relationship-building and connection-building. We do this by combining and restructuring things to mentally explore ideas and create new and meaningful relationships between them.

2. Time and perspective play a role. Imagination is a method of thinking and framing that allows you to step out of the present, revisit the past and anticipate possible futures. It enables you to take a different view by putting yourself in someone else's shoes.?

3. Imagination has a trigger event. It begins with a mental spark. These are catalysts—or surprises—that throw everything into question, spark curiosity and shift perceptions.

Research reveals a counterintuitive truth: surprise is the key that unlocks growth, innovation and connection.

Shifting your perception of surprise lets you thrive in the face of uncertainty. So how can you make surprises useful tools for igniting your imagination?

Martin Reeves and Jack Fuller's 2021 book, The Imagination Machine: How to Spark New Ideas and Create Your Company's Future , has been seminal in my work as a futurist focused on the power of imagination to create new possible futures that are equal and regenerative.

It's helped shape the bedrock of much of my thinking, and inspired the experimentation and prototyping I've been doing for the last 2 years in my work with founders and C-Suite executives of early-stage start-ups, investment-backed scale-ups and small businesses (many of which are led by former corporate executives).

Inspired by Reeves and Fuller's book, here are 3 secrets to developing and strengthening your imagination fitness with productive surprises:

1. Get intentional about what you care about—and what drives you nuts. Aspirations and aggravations relevant to your mission and vision enable you to notice triggers that form the building blocks of imagination.?

I care deeply about helping leaders create the space for emergence, getting you out of the day-to-day and thinking about the long-term, so you can create continuous, future-focused growth.?

I'm passionate about pioneering alternative ways to build, grow and fund companies, because much of what I see isn’t sustainable or working for most people. We desperately need to reimagine business models, funding options, company classifications and roles (especially in the age of artificial intelligence).

It's clear to me that we're wasting finite things like time, money and human potential. And at the same time, we're increasing our risk of cancer and chronic diseases.

In July of 2021, I experienced a triggering event that compelled me to start developing a different way to approach futures thinking. I was talking with the CEO of a VC-backed scale-up about my consulting offerings that left me gobsmacked.?

This surprising conversation triggered my imagination—it threw everything into question and caused me to get curious, ask “what if” questions and consider new courses of action.

2. Notice productive surprises. Surprising events are everywhere, like when it rains and you weren’t expecting it. But the triggers useful for imagination are the ones that challenge your thinking, seem out of the ordinary or feel connected to something else in some way.

I’m dating myself here, though my mental shorthand for evoking this feeling is the 1990 C&C Music Factory song “things that make you go hmmmmmm..."?

3. Create the conditions for productive surprises.?Your mind needs to be prepared to act. You have to see and sense things more deeply—pause, get curious, wonder and wander, ask “what if” questions, interpret, and get outside perspectives about whatever it is that has triggered you.

It’s also ideal when you’re in situations that allow you to think, which is when you’re in an environment that supports your rest-and-digest nervous system instead of your fight-or-flight nervous system.?

This is why you have mental sparks in the shower, on a walk in nature, or while listening to classical music. It turns out that this state of mind is essential for making meaning of new information, and for distilling complex, emotionally-relevant connections between complex ideas.

Surprise is possibly the world's least understood and most intriguing emotion.

When you understand its power, you can make sense of your own productive surprises and develop your imagination fitness on a regular basis.

When was the last time something made you go "hmmmmmm"?

Are you noticing productive surprises?

Is there something you haven’t considered though maybe you should?

Let me know in a comment. ????

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About Regan Robinson

Regan Robinson is a futurist, business strategist, advisor and investor building an Imaginarium to empower visionaries to create growth futures for themselves, their companies and communities. She’s the creator of the Sketching Your Future Series,? a portfolio of done-with-you-experiences specially calibrated for busy founders and C-Suite executives to realize new possibilities of customers, strategies, products and business models by being future fit.?

After a powerhouse first 15 years leading strategy and business transformation at companies such as VICE Media and Edelman Digital (with revenue increases ranging from 40% - 300%+ across roles), working with clients such as Viacom, Stila Cosmetics and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and launching 3 startups (including co-founding digital innovation agency Highly Evolved at 27), Regan’s life was forever changed with her Mom’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis in 2015. She began defining her own work-life philosophy, built on the cornerstones of futures thinking, well-being, imagination and intuition.

Ever since, she’s been applying her proprietary methodologies to shape the strategic thinking and foresight capacities of leaders from Fortune 500’s to progressive startups. Regan is passionate about developing alternative ways to build, grow and fund companies (and ultimately reduce the incidences of cancer and chronic disease). She’s been featured in Thrive Global, Jennifer Justice’s Takin’ Care of Lady Business and The Intentional Advantage podcast, hosts conversations about imagination with pioneering CEOs (such as Luminary founder Cate Luzio) and leads fireside chats at boutique resorts such as MARRAM in Montauk.?