During my advertising career, I marveled at how it could take months to develop an ad that made an impact instantly. There are many references to famous people struggling for years to conceive an invention or a piece of art and having their “AHA” moment magically, when not even consciously thinking about the topic - as early as Joseph Murphy's "The Power of the Sub-Conscious Mind" (which I discovered in my Grandfather's library) and the more recent "Imagination" by Jonah Lehrer.

The explanation for why is consistent.  The left side of our brain is where all the organizational functions happen, like language and logic, and the right side of our brain is the source of those ideas that seem to magically come from nowhere.

The left side of the brain stores information and the language to articulate it. It solves problems by looking for something that has already been done in its database. Just like AI. Sometimes that's good enough. But when the outcome is a breakthrough, like electricity, or measuring gravity, or convincing people to open their minds to something like a Volkswagen Bug, or for people like Archie Bunker to relate to a Black neighbor, the right side of the brain has been the catalyst.

Today, these breakthrough outcomes are rare. Maybe that’s because when there’s too much information, people use the same words to keep things simple and clear. And you may think that’s good enough for the debate contest, college application, job resume, investor pitch, etc. But the more these words are used the less impact they have. To find original words that could only come from you, you need a catalyst to tap the right side of your brain.

The timing of this right brain exercise is important. It works best after immersing the left side of your brain with a challenge and giving it time to percolate, at least overnight, once.

And remember, as Einstein says “Creativity is the brain having fun.”

Mediamashing is a fun exercise that capitalizes on the unexplained impact of music and images to inspire ideas and words.