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examples of bringing ideas from diffuse mode into focus mode

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Salvador Dalí

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would fall asleep in his chair with his keys dangling in his hands

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when he began dreaming his grasp would relax and he would drop his keys

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the keys falling to the floor would wake him up

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he would rush to his painting and paint the ideas from his dream onto his painting

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Thomas Edison

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would take a nap in his chair sitting upright with a large, steel ball bearing in each hand, and on the floor under each he would place a steel metal saucer

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when he would fall asleep, the ball bearing would hit the metal saucers and wake him up

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at this point he is in a state of hypnagogia, a state between consciousness and sleep in which he would write down his ideas

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while Dali would generally use this concept freely in order to produce maximally bizarre ideas, Edison would prepare his trips into hypnagogia by focusing on a specific challenge he was facing with an invention, then letting the thoughts surrounding it diffuse as he moved into another mode of consciousness

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when you are learning something difficult

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approach it in both focused mode (concentrated studying) as well as diffuse mode (dreaming, playing)

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go back and forth between these two learning modes often

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metaphors provide powerful techniques for learning

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e.g. set up a spacial area in your mind, something that has a lot of detail, e.g. the room you grew up in

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use this spatial area to "put" the concepts you are learning, revisit it often, even when you don't have your learning material