In the course of decades of design, I have developed a process that is among my most powerful creative constructs: the subconscious cloud. It is the centerpoint of creative problem-solving, as it is based on the psychology of the brain in a fundamental way, ensuring that it, when harnessed, can kick-start success.
It is well-known that everyone has a conscious and subconscious mind. What is less known is that the subconscious mind can be trained in exactly a way that ensures a solution will emerge from even the most complex creative conundrum.
INCEPTION
I began developing my subconscious cloud technique decades ago in my efforts to create a unique creative problem-solving system.
Many years ago, I was a fledgling designer venturing down the path of creativity, consciously formulating increasingly complex problem-solving structures. In my continued attempts to resolve problems through the matrixing of related concepts, it became exhausting and almost impossible for me to continuously expend the necessary mental energy.
I remember how one evening a year after I graduated, a design director at the company I was working for stopped in and saw me creating a complex spreadsheet matrix of over a hundred different issues. What he said to me upon looking over my notes generated an essential spark. This was to ignite a blaze of creativity that extended into my career.
He told me, simply but poignantly, that I already knew what the answer was and that it would never come from the chart. He said that in thinking about interrelated ideas and issues, you must stand back to allow space for your intuitive mind to take control, generating an answer.
While I was perplexed at the time, I was of course also intrigued. This was the origin of a discovery process in which I began to expend vital energy to understand a problem but then would consciously pull away, giving my subconscious mind the opportunity to perform a miracle.
BACKING
There is a nigh-overwhelming amount of quantitative research backing the power of the subconscious, therefore informing the development of my subconscious cloud construct.
The idea that the subconscious mind can process information approximately 100 times faster than the conscious mind is supported by the hundreds of studies. Within this body of research, Dr. Emmanuel Dunchen has authored a study stating that an enormous portion of cognitive activity—to the tune of approximately 99%—is subconscious. Freud himself believed that the subconscious mind could be directed and controlled. In countless other studies, it has been documented that the subconscious helps you make decisions quickly, processing and utilizing a large amount of information with ease.
Just imagine, now, what you yourself could do if you had a process enabling you to harness this largely-untapped powerhouse of potential.
THE SUBCONSCIOUS CLOUD CONSTRUCT
My subconscious cloud invention for problem-solving has allowed solutions to, in my decades of experience with innovation, flow forth in a streaming river of thought. You simply have to utilize information by training the subconscious mind in a way that allows it to best understand problems and patterns, thus allowing it to output effective solutions.
The subconscious cloud construct is similar to the technological concept of the cloud. The subconscious cloud is a storehouse of information as well, but beyond this, it is also an advanced supercomputer devoid of limitations and capable of solving any problem. For this reason, you must learn to optimize it, training it to process data in a way that produces the necessary solution. Doing this requires daily practice.
There are many techniques I have developed during the course of the past several decades that can take a fundamental problem statement—an all-encompassing verbal depiction of a problem—and energize it in a way that allows the subconscious mind to find answers. Two of these techniques are described below.
WHERE TO START
The goal with the subconscious cloud is to incrementally establish a strong link between the conscious and subconscious mind—a communication path that channels information effectively.
To begin training your mind in this process, you need to create problem statements regarding patterns and key questions that relate to problems you are trying to solve. By simply recognizing patterns and vital information regarding the problems at hand, approaching them with curiosity and optimism, you engage the priming paradigms of the subconscious. Considering problem statements and structures over time is what pushes information deep into your subconscious mind, ultimately yielding ideas for a solution.
You should undertake this process with no particular expectation of reaching a conclusion or solution, as especially at the beginning of training yourself in this process, it may take days or weeks for a solution to emerge; conversely, however, it could take minutes. I advise you to be patient, as regardless of the time it takes, the process will prove unbelievably productive.
A MORE ADVANCED PROCESS
Once basic training has been completed, more complex processes, such as what I call the subconscious cloud at warp speed, can be used to generate even more power. This method is analogous to a mental microwave that cooks ideas quickly. However, this is an exhausting process in which you force complex matrices upon your mind—one not for the faint of heart. One must be judicious about using this technique, undertaking basic training for many months and generating successful solutions before attempting this intense method.
CONCLUSION
The subconscious cloud presents unbelievably promising possibilities, surprising you time and again with creative epiphanies. Like the process of developing any other talent, harnessing the subconscious mind takes time and patience, but doing so is invaluable. It is my ardent belief that everyone can successfully learn to use the subconscious cloud concept in working to conquer the chaos of creativity.