Harvey Mackay Column for the week of October 26, 2009 How to Improve Your Imagination Print Forums Refer Page

A mother once asked Albert Einstein how to raise a child to become a genius. Einstein advised her to read fairy tales to the child. "And after that?" the mother asked. "Read the child more fairy tales," Einstein replied, adding that what a scientist needs most is a curious imagination. Imagination is important not only for scientists, but also for anyone looking for new and better ways to do what they're already doing. And who isn't in favor of that? It seems like we start out in life with vivid imaginations. Consider these stories. Mozart wrote his first musical composition at age 4, Beethoven at 13. Alexander the Great conquered most of the civilized world by the time he was 27. Napoleon defeated Italy at age 26. Young inventors include Eli Whitney who came up with the cotton gin at age 28. At 21, Michael Faraday revolutionized the Industrial Era with his invention of the electric motor. And who can forget young computer whizzes Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Michael Dell. Larry Page and Sergey Brin started Google while they were college students.

Fear not, you in the over-30 range. Plenty of older adults have made tremendous contributions as grey-hairs. Grandma Moses didn't sell her first painting until she was almost 80 years old. Col. Sanders used his Social Security checks to start Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ronald Reagan didn't become president until age 69.

L. Frank Baum, author of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," surely had an active imagination. His Oz characters and story line are evidence of that. But did you know that in his more than 55 novels, 82 short stories and 200 poems, he also envisioned such later inventions as the laptop computer, color television and wireless phones? By the way, Baum died in 1919, long before any of these gadgets could have been practically produced.

"Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization," Baum said. "Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams – daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing – are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster civilization."

Your imagination can take you to plenty of places you've never been. But if you haven't used it for a while, try these ways to awaken your imagination.

• Ask questions. That's a very good way to open your mind and expand your possibilities. Start your questions with why? How? What if? Don't expect immediate answers: that's where the imagination comes in.
• Take risks. Try doing something a different way than you usually do it. Ask for help from someone new. Start a project that will require you to learn a new skill.
• Be curious. Take a new road. Taste an exotic food. Read a book that makes you think. Talk to someone who has had unique experiences and imagine yourself in that situation.
• Expect the unexpected. Instead of lamenting that things didn't turn out exactly as you planned, figure out how the surprise results might be even better. Give yourself permission to fail, perhaps more than a few times, and keep trying until you are satisfied with the result.
• Build a model without instructions. Take a pile of Legos and see what you can create. Play with Play-doh. Make a food sculpture.
  Let your artistic side play. Take a drawing class. Listen to music you don't ordinarily enjoy. Explore an art museum.
• Observe the world around you. How many different kinds of leaves do you see? Choose a color and note how many objects are that shade.
• Get on your hands and knees and look around from a child's point of view.

I wonder what Ben Franklin would say about our dependence on electricity – knowing that his rain-soaked kite-flying helped bring us to this point. I imagine that he would start flipping switches and vacuuming and opening the refrigerator and studying computers with total joy. I imagine that he would be thrilled. And I imagine he would look for another mystery to solve.

Mackay's Moral: There are no rules in imagination. If you can imagine it, you can do it.

The Author Harvey Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist for United Feature Syndicate. His weekly articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country, including the Chicago Sun Times, Rocky Mountain News, Orange County Register, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Arizona Republic. http://www.mackay.com/ Copyright, Harvey Mackay. All rights reserved.