Autopilot Mode & Ideation
On a eventless evenings, I was driving back home from office and this topic propped up when I was least expecting it to formulate. The next 15 minutes it just formed itself. All I had to do was pen it down.
Autopilot and Ideation, let me brief what am referring to as autopilot. It was a holiday season and most of the city was deserted, not much of traffic. It was my usual route, way back home. My mind wasn’t actually thinking of anything nor driving was consuming much of attention. So, I was kind of blank at that moment — without actually having to use my attention (or work up my brain to find my way back home using a google map). You could say, my brain was on an autopilot mode and it exactly knew, which turn to take next; even without me directing it explicitly. When you are into a routine tasks, the brain gets into an autopilot mode or default mode. It naturally was working its magic on some random topic I had come across few days ago into a write up — which eventually you are reading now!
On contrary to what we think as the idle state, it’s actually the ideation state. Looks like our 🧠 brain, is at its busiest when we do nothing or while on autopilot mode. It tries to solve last week’s puzzle that you couldn’t find an answer to (or) something bigger that was challenging you at work which kept hitting the dead end.
Ever experienced, solutions appearing out of nowhere, when you have long forgotten or shelved something?!
Most of my ideation becomes a solid chain of thoughts, while am driving or cleaning or wandering aimlessly or sometimes even while in the bathroom — when I least expect it to happen.
Our brain needs a blank state to solve the unsolvable. So at last being idle which may sounds like a sin, isn’t after all a sin! It is okay to be on autopilot mode (or at rest) to let your thoughts drift away, to be your most productive self.
As a Product Designer or a Product Manager one could work out their brain for some logical solution but hit the dark tunnel every time with every solution they come up with; sometimes even park that as a known issue and start having a work around when we encounter that scenario. If you happen to work in an Enterprise Solutioning, you could have come across this problem more than once. There are loads of can of worms which the business doesn't wants to open. So, we just practise to live with those issues in the system.
But out of nowhere, someone would propose a solution (the 💡 eureka moment) which everyone could unanimously agree. It would just be a very simple solution, we would even think — why didn't we think of it earlier!?
Few problems are best resolved when you put your conscious brain to rest. But thats may not be fully true that the problem was brushed aside. The working of the brain seems like it doesn’t let anything unresolved. We may not be actively processing something in the Layer 1 (conscious layer) but the subconscious layer, seems to still process them. Its kind of involuntary action which is always actively seeking solution (like pumping of heart, which you obviously don’t send a command, but yes its working behind your ribs — always).
Let the problem sit and seep, you will find an answer, sooner or later. As far as you have given the command to the genie 🧠 you are good. The Genie, may take time to work out its magic — but it will definitely bring you an answer when you least expect. Allow the Genie, to drive in autopilot mode…
