The Aha!! Effect …..
Let’s start this a bit technically, so what’s a proper
definition of the term “Eureka Moment”. Wikipedia defines it has … “Eureka"
is an interjection used to celebrate a discovery or invention. That seems to be
a very difficult one to get known to what actually Eureka moment mean. In
simple words, it’s a flash of a moment when one feels that “I have found it…”
History states that, this word of first attributed to the
famous ancient Greek scholar Archimedes.
He reportedly proclaimed "Eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and
noticed that the water level rose—he suddenly understood that the volume of
water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had
submerged. Yeah that was the moment J
quite funny!!
It’s actually a good word; everyone should use this word
from time to time, to make you exciting while spilling it out!
Imagine sitting in an exam hall, seeing at the question
paper and wondering what the solution is and in a flash you get a
solution!!!!Feels so good, that’s an awesome Eureka Moment, for sure.
Know Isaac Newton?
Yes the man who discovered Gravity. Actually, if you go through that incident
again you’ll see it’s a heck of a Eureka!!! Let’s rewind this a bit.
Isaac Newton was a shy, quiet boy growing up on a farm in
England 300 years ago. He was not a very good student and nobody cared about
him. He was a guy who always kept on asking “Why? This, Why that? &
so on…. Until One day he was lazy sitting in a garden wondering how things will
go … and then … An apple fell out of the tree - bonk! Ow!
Now for most people that would be the end of the story, but
not for Isaac. Not for somebody who just couldn't stop asking why
all the time. Why did the apple fall out of the tree? Does everything fall?
What makes things fall? Can anything stop things from falling? Are the sun,
moon, and stars falling? Why don't they ever hit the ground? and then he came
up with the theory of Gravity!!!
It is one of the most famous anecdotes in the history of
science but for us it’s just a brilliant example of Eureka Moment.
Eureka Moments have also been referred as Eureka Myth. Like,
as we winded up that apple fall on Isaac’s head & he came up with theory of
Gravity, seems a Eureka moment, but actually it’s a Eureka Myth because Isaac
spent many years after it to actually come up with the concept of Gravity.
Although it is commonly thought that Charles Darwin
came up with his theory of natural selection while on the Galapagos Islands in
1835, he only started to believe in evolution after he returned to England.
Instead of being struck by a single "Eureka moment", the scientist
spent two decades pondering his observations, finally presenting his controversial
theory in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. Sofia Mitra-Thakur
Popular culture has its own views of the Aha! Effect.
Although both are defined as that moment of insight that changes one's state of
mind, its applications greatly differ. Where scientists have focused on
understanding the mechanisms of insights as well as how and where Aha! Moments
occur in the brain; Oprah Winfrey has taken this phenomenon and turned it into
a popular and well-recognized state of mind. By focusing on the emotional and
life changing occurrences an individual experiences, Oprah views the Aha! Effect
as a sudden moment of realization, where an individual recognizes that they
need to make a change or move forward in life. Oprah includes Aha! Moments in
her monthly magazine, O: the Oprah Magazine, and commonly makes
reference to these moments of insight on her television show, Oprah
Eureka moments feel like flashes of insight because they
often come out a period when the mind isn’t focused on the problem, what
psychologists call a period of incubation. Incubation is the stage where people
briefly step back from their work. Many of the most productive creative people
intentionally set a project aside and take a physical break from their work
believing that this incubation stage is where ideas begin to come together
below the threshold of the conscious mind. Some people juggle various projects
at the same time under the belief that while their conscious mind is focusing
on one project, the others are incubating in their unconscious. The insights
that come after incubation are what feel like we’re tapping into the same
idea-generating force that powered Newton and Archimedes.
After going through all the above stuff, what comes up that,
Eureka Moments can be any simple things happening with you at any instant of
time. The thing is that in this busy modern life no one has time to actually realize
that which moment was Eureka.
Here are a few tips to get inspired to strike and find your
Eureka moment.
Slow down
Slowing down to find whitespace in today’s fast paced,
non-stop, all consuming world is easier said than done. That’s especially true
now that mobile phones have found their way into every corner of the globe.
Getting away, out of your normal routine and disconnected from the daily grind
doesn’t just happen anymore; you’ve got to be purposeful about it. You've got
to seek out quiet spaces.
Get outside the bubble
If you think about it, we live the bulk of our lives in a
bubble, moving temporarily from one to the next. Each bubble personalized for
our comfort and familiarity, by design. Home, car, office, car, home, repeat.
By design, there’s nothing particularly stimulating about them, even if we
build them to foster "creativity," they’re still stagnant, and as
such, will only temporarily stimulate a new perspective.
Extend today’s observations into the future
This last step is perhaps where the magic happens, but note
that the degree to which you succeed here is largely predicated upon your
ability to 1. Slow down (create whitespace) and 2. View problems from a new
perspective.The trick is to take a simple observation or trend and mentally
extend it out in some fashion into the future.
I grew up thinking Eureka moments were, as if by divine
intervention, supposed to simply appear.
I learned however that nothing could be farther from the
truth, at least in my case. What some call "vision" is actually
nothing more than taking the time to connect the dots? In fact, it’s entirely
possible to manufacture eureka moments by creating the right circumstances, and
by simply being open and thoughtful about what I was already observing every
day.
So, let’s conclude this article.
Isaac discovered gravity, Archimedes discovered law of
hydrostatics, Charles Darwin discovered theory of evaluation all these were
initiated by a Eureka Moment.
And even your solution to a tough problem in “Math!!!” too
was a Eureka Moment J
The point is that, some moments happen in flash and you just
don’t get to know whether it’s a Eureka Moment or not. What you need is to
follow the 3 tips given above, create & realize your Eureka
Moments!!!! So I’d like to wrap this out
saying …
~~Eureka Moments Don't Just Happen, But They Can Be
Created
Prasad Pawaskar
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