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Put your subconscious to work so you don’t have to

November 3, 2011 By David Goldstein

Fishing for ideas?

Fishing for ideas? (Nha Trang, Vietnam

In the ancient watertown of Hongcun, the Chinese thought of everything – including private indoor fishing holes in the homes along the canal. Just open the gate, add some bait and wait. After the fish swam in for brunch the ancient non-mariners closed the exit. Solving problems with creative solutions is like setting fish traps. Set the bait by defining the problem. Then walk away, and spend some time doing something else like driving, watching a movie, taking a nap, jogging around the block, writing your blog and setting more traps. Keep setting traps by posing more questions. This puts your subconscious to work so you don’t have to. Through heightened awareness, solutions that you never would have noticed start to swim in and all you have to do is catch them. Have you found that when you set a trap, answers fall into your lap?

fish trap

Hongcun aquarium


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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. edmond0925 says

    November 5, 2011 at 12:44 am

    Thank you for sharing this great post! Keep up the good work!

  2. Barbara says

    November 15, 2011 at 10:49 am

    What a wonderful thoughts you have here, keep it up.

  3. Mika Castro says

    November 30, 2011 at 10:37 pm

    I totally agree on this. You have to work hard and think some strategies to put your subconscious work in energy! Thanks for sharing.

  4. olivia34newton says

    December 1, 2011 at 9:30 am

    Very inspiring thoughts. Thanks for sharing.

  5. Terre Britton says

    December 2, 2011 at 11:24 am

    Thanks for this great example, David.

    Yes, I find that I, oftentimes, solve programming or design problems in my sleep/dreams or just by walking away from the problem and letting it ‘rest.’ (Have you any idea what a rush it is to dream that you’re inside the ‘landscape’ of a Photoshop file?:)
    Terre Britton recently posted..Being Prepared to Be WrongMy Profile

    • David Goldstein says

      December 3, 2011 at 11:25 am

      I haven’t had my dreams enhanced by photoshop but it sounds fun and probably reduces red-eye while you sleep. Thanks for sharing your experience Terre!
      David Goldstein recently posted..Encouraged by the Bottom 10 percent My Profile

  6. Mika Castro says

    December 6, 2011 at 12:43 am

    By the way, this inspiring thoughts of you did a great overcome for me. It totally drag me up and decide for myself. I thank you.

  7. KATHLEEN says

    December 6, 2011 at 2:18 am

    You had a really great thought..Thanks a lot for sharing to us..You have to work hard and think some strategies to put your subconscious work in energy!

  8. Ethel says

    December 12, 2011 at 11:25 pm

    you really did a great point here 🙂 i like how you elaborate it. it’s truly inspiring!

  9. Faith@RushcardPro says

    December 19, 2011 at 8:46 am

    So my suggestion is to review your 60s rock and listen to the song again. I still don’t know if “moss grows fat on a rolling stone” is about Mick, Keith, Charlie, Bill and Brian (as it would have been then) or Bob Dylan’s song “Like a Rolling Stone”–or even Jann Wenner, the publisher of “Rolling Stone” magazine?

  10. Shalani says

    December 20, 2011 at 3:01 am

    This is a very insightful post! Yes that is many times happening to me. I have not noticed that the solution is just about my face. I agree that being creative is really a great skill.

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