Day Dreaming - The Secret Behind Success

Research shows daydreaming leads to improved learning; enhanced abilities; greater creativity & increased success


I researched how people achieve success. I wanted to find out if there is a pattern that can be replicated and used to help others get the same results.


I initially looked at highly successful people in their chosen field from Entrepreneurs like Richard Branson & Peter Jones to Geniuses like Albert Einstein & Leonardo Da Vinci. I also looked at the thinking styles of successful creative people like Beethoven & Walt Disney.


What I found was that they all had one thing in common. They all spent time daydreaming about their area of success.


“When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination.” Nikola Tesla


“When I heard the music it made pictures in my head...here are the pictures.” Walt Disney (Describing the film Fantasia)


“I...go over again in the imagination the main outlines of the forms previously studied, or of other noteworthy things conceived by ingenious speculation; and this exercise is entirely to be commended, and it is useful in fixing things in the memory.” Leonardo Da Vinci


“I would sit in my father’s office chair and pretend I was in charge of a big company – a big dream for a school boy but one that ultimately came true...I believe a vibrant imagination is the lifeblood of a successful entrepreneur.” Peter Jones (From his book ‘Tycoon’)


Every person I looked at had daydreaming as a part of their strategy for success; it appears you really do seem to get what you spend most of your time dreaming about.


From this discovery I began to look further into research on dreaming. I found that dreaming enhances creativity, updates patterns in the mind (retention of new information) and bypasses the critical factor (so that you don’t question the likelihood of what is happening in the dream, you just go with it).


These discoveries led to me understanding what makes daydreaming so important for success.


When you daydream anything is possible and unlike nighttime dreaming there is a greater sense of malleability. You can slow down or speed up time, zoom in or out, be associated or disassociated, add or take away what you like, alter the laws of physics, and so much more. As dreaming updates patterns in the mind what you dream about becomes a part of who you are. Dream of being successful and you’re likely to become successful.


I discovered that how you dream is important. It isn’t about just dreaming once, it needs to be so compelling that you can’t stop yourself dreaming about what you want to achieve until you have got it. It has to motivate you into action.


I found that these dreams take a specific form. Firstly the BIG dream; what do you REALLY want. Then dreaming how you will get there or what the stages are, followed by frequent dreams of the bigger picture and what you need to do over the next few stages towards success. This pattern of dreaming leads to increased motivation and an increase in ‘luck’ or opportunities.


Part of becoming successful is to be able to learn a chosen subject successfully. For successful learning I found that people need the opportunity to daydream about what they are being taught.


Sports Psychologists use visualisation. Studies have shown that those that use visualisation out perform those that use practice alone.


Teachers tell pupils off for not paying attention or daydreaming in class, they should instead be encouraging and facilitating daydreaming. As long as the daydreaming is related to the subject rather than to something like ‘what will I be doing later’ the pupil will be updating patterns in their mind adding the new learning to what they already know.


There are a number of ways to encourage this daydreaming. Once something has been taught the mind needs to update the patterns within about 20 minutes; and it takes about 10 to 20 minutes for this updating to be completed.


Ways to encourage this updating include:


Using relaxation and pleasant guided imagery (this stimulates a daydream state when done correctly)

Allowing the person to doodle (as they doodle they drift into a daydream state)

Facilitating natural daydreaming (allowing it to happen when it is observed)


Below is a collection of quotes & information from other successful people that have used dreaming for success:


“I imagine a vast web of possible future paths in my head, like trails on map. I mentally explore paths that catch my interest. After I find the ones that motivate me, I revisit them often and get fascinated about what would have to happen and who I’d have to become to make it real. Then I wonder how great all of that would feel, where I could start, how proud of myself I’ll be for starting, then I realize that these very thoughts are the beginning and I then get awestruck and delighted by the elegance of the universe and get cracking.” Jamie Combs (American Entrepreneur; Founder of ‘Natural Balance Foods)



"When I'm alone, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone and of good cheer - say traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly" Mozart



"It (the idea) rises, it grows, I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast, like a sculpture, and only the labour of writing it down remains..." Beethoven



"I wake from dreams and go, 'Wow put this down on paper.'...I feel somewhere some place it's been done and I'm just a courier bringing it into the world." Michael Jackson



Paul McCartney dreamt he heard the Rolling Stones performing a song he was jealous of. When he woke up he realised no-one had every recorded or performed the song. He wrote it down and recorded it. The song was 'Yesterday'



Einstein imagined travelling on a beam of light and work with his various imaginings to create his theory of relativity.



The story of Newton was that he was relaxing under a tree when he saw an apple fall to the ground giving him his moment of understanding about gravity.



The story of Archemedes was that while relaxing in a bath he became aware that the water that overflowed as he got in could be the same as the mass of his body.