and are you refreshed are you energized
didn’t you just love the challenge that
Mark left us with let me hear you say
aha if you loved the challenge that mark
left us with great because what I’m
about to give you is the means to
achieve that challenge with effortless
ease what is the most resilient thing in
the entire world the one thing that can
reshape the future and transform
humanity once it’s planted in a brain an
idea right but not just any idea
it’s those ideas that are worth
spreading
those ideas that enliven the imagination
those ideas that power us to soar above
the limitations which are currently
holding us back
it’s those ideas that thrill us and make
us go aha aha moments are the
accelerators of possibilities they
dissolve boundaries and they make us see
things differently once a mind has been
stretched by one aha moment it can never
go back to its original state
aha moments are the steps on the
staircase of progress and it’s because
we know that it’s because we understand
the power of aha that we’re gathered in
this room here today it’s because we
crave their stimulating effect that we
are here begging breakthroughs to
penetrate our minds aha moments are the
only virus which we are willingly
wanting to be infected by and so much so
that we have become determined to turn
aha
from a metaphysical experience into a
precise science about a year ago I was
called by an event planner
and that was because I was going to do a
speaking engagement and he called and he
said I’m really struggling with how to
title your talk and so I asked him well
what’s the struggle which is when he
says well I read your research and I’d
like to call it the science of
breakthroughs but I’m afraid that if I
use the word science but it’s gonna show
up because they’ll think it’s boring so
was going to suggest why don’t we call
it the art of aha moments which is when
the insecure academic part of me went
like you’re going to call it what and he
said the art of aha and I said yeah why
not hocus-pocus but then I thought you
know let me think about this for a
moment because you know where I come
from which is the Republic of Moldova
art at the time when I was growing up
was the equivalent of witchcraft in the
15th century if you drew anything other
than the face of Lenin or an aircraft or
a tractor you’d get burned on a stick
they call this the socialist realism but
then I thought you know I’m trying to
move forward and when you’re trying to
move forward while you’re holding on to
the past it’s the same as taking poison
and except expecting to feel good and
you know my talk is about breakthroughs
and breakthroughs do relate to both
science and art and so I said to him why
don’t we call the talk the art and the
science of aha moments which is when he
went like hahaha you can’t have art and
sciences in the same sentence that’s a
dichotomy so ladies and gentlemen today
we’re talking about the art and science
of aha moments and I’d like to share
with you a piece of my research which
has fundamentally changed my perception
it has changed the way that I create and
the way that I work actually has changed
the way that I leave and my story starts
here when I was growing up my teachers
used to tell me never leave to tomorrow
that what you can do today no less up in
wenatchee puts such a us let me see your
yeah and you have to understand I really
took that to heart you have a master’s
degree which takes two years to complete
and there’s me finishing it in nine
months you have a Dutch language and
integration college which takes five
years to complete there’s me finishing
it in two months you have a driver’s
license theory which takes a few weeks
to learn and there’s me learning it in
three hours the night before they exam
and passing I never really understood
those people who said good things come
to those that wait I was more of the
belief that good things come to those
that work hard for them and so hard work
perseverance and pushing through things
has been the motto of my entire life and
I think I believe I speak for most
people here in this room today somewhere
along the line we have gotten the idea
that the harder that we work and the
busier that we keep our children and our
families that the more effective and
successful we will become but instead of
success what this philosophy has brought
me is not one but two burnouts by the
age of 35 and if you’ve read the
internet lately you will know that I’m
not an exception to the rule burnout is
actually a global epidemic so I started
thinking well what is it it takes a
select number of people they leave the
same amount of years as the rest of us
and have seemingly the same quality of
life as the rest of us yet they go from
one aha moment to another they go from
one breakthrough to another they’ve
invented countless extraordinary things
living the rest of us scratching our
heads and asking ourselves well why
didn’t I come up with that you know like
the first telephone or artificial
intelligence or this very nifty shoes
umbrellas
and you know Aristotle said that
excellence is a habit so I thought if I
could find a pattern in the habits of
this extraordinary people then I would
crack the code – AHA and so I started on
a quest I was going to crack the code of
a ha a cherry picked my subjects very
carefully you know the Einsteins the
Vosges knee axe and Steve Jobs of the
world and I looked at their lives
through the lengths of such questions as
well what did they eat how many hours
did they work how long did they sleep
and so on and whilst I found some common
patterns like for example Nietzsche who
like to work standing up and so did
Lewis Carroll Virginia Woolf Nabokov I
also found some very peculiar habits
like Stravinsky who used to do headstand
or pizza goddess who refused to eat
beans or Beethoven who would throw ice
water over he said yeah different
strokes for different folks I found as
many habits as there were people and
whilst I wasn’t able to define a common
golden set of habits I did come to one
realization and that realization is that
it wasn’t what those people were doing
before the breakthrough occurred but
what they were doing at the time when
the breakthroughs were taking place that
was the common pattern let me see your
hand if you know what Isaac Newton was
doing when he discovered gravity
he was sitting under a tree wasn’t he
doing nothing and what about Steve Jobs
when he invented the world’s greatest
brand was he in some kind of a marketing
meeting brainstorming with the team no
he was alone on a Sunday afternoon in a
garden doing nothing and how about
Salvador Dali before he painted any of
his masterpieces was he
drafting sketching like a maniac though
he would sit down close his eyes and do
nothing
deliberately ladies and gentlemen the
biggest discoveries are not the result
of a set of habits or some kind of a
precise science they are the result of
doing nothing now
if you’re anything like me you’re not
going to take this finding at face value
doing nothing where I come from is a big
no-no it’s actually associated with a
sin
sloth linnethia you go to hell if you do
nothing so well I wanted to find the
findings and I started a deep research
I’m going to find the statistics which
are proving me that doing nothing has
anything to do with innovation with
breakthroughs and so on well you will
not be surprised there’s not much
science out there which proves how doing
nothing has anything to do with the
effectiveness or innovation the only
thing this research has brought me is a
lot of sleepless nights and frustration
and it was during those sleepless nights
that I started to practice mindfulness
meditation running and so on
I tried pretty much every trick in the
book just to get my mind to stop from
racing and these thoughts from going
crazy and to get some sleep but tries I
mean nothing was working until one night
I decided you know what I’m not going to
win this work anyway so I might as well
give up and I give up this is when it
happened it was during that night that
one thought stood out very simple
thought what was I sitting doing under
the tree what if he like me had his eyes
closed and that’s when it happened
that’s when I had my aha moment the
research that I needed to find was not
on how doing nothing is impacting
innovation but what what happens in our
brain when we close our eyes and what do
you know indeed recent
have found that when we close our eyes
and let our mind wonder an
interconnected group of pathways in our
brain highlights and activates it’s
called the default mode Network this is
what this default mode network looks
like like you know colorful cotton candy
and the peculiarity of this network is
that it only activates when you’re quiet
and you close your eyes and it
deactivates when you’re focused on any
activity until recently science has
taught that our brain is quiet during
rest now we know that this could not be
further from the truth
in fact our brain is even more active
when we are at rest than it is when
we’re focused on any activity here is
our brain right now this is your brain
at this moment as you’re focusing on
this talk and here’s our brain at rest
our brain is a lot more active when we
close our eyes and let it do nothing now
the interesting thing is that is during
that state when the default mode Network
activates that’s when we put events in
our life into a context this is when we
develop memory and this is also when new
connections are made pathways or neural
pathways which were previously not
related to one another now find their
way to each other and make love the
default mode network is like the dating
service for our neurons and this is when
the bread that you ate that morning gets
coupled with a mechanical slicer that
you read about in the paper and sliced
bread gets invented this is when the
trolley used to do groceries gets
coupled with a heavy suitcase and the
weirdly the suitcase gets invented this
is when the shoes that you ordered
online gets coupled with the memory of a
heavy rainy ones got caught in this very
nifty shoes umbrellas get invented and
ladies and gentlemen the important part
that these connections this
breakthroughs are as unique and as
limitless as your experiences and
memories our genius is not a chance
occurrence it’s not something that is
reserved for a select few there is a
genius in every single one of you there
are thousands of breakthroughs sitting
just behind your closed eyelids so let
us go through the world not limited by
what we can see not limited by what we
can think up but limitless by the
infinite possibilities that we can
conjure up as soon as we close our eyes
and let our minds wander thank you [Applause]
didn’t you just love the challenge that
Mark left us with let me hear you say
aha if you loved the challenge that mark
left us with great because what I’m
about to give you is the means to
achieve that challenge with effortless
ease what is the most resilient thing in
the entire world the one thing that can
reshape the future and transform
humanity once it’s planted in a brain an
idea right but not just any idea
it’s those ideas that are worth
spreading
those ideas that enliven the imagination
those ideas that power us to soar above
the limitations which are currently
holding us back
it’s those ideas that thrill us and make
us go aha aha moments are the
accelerators of possibilities they
dissolve boundaries and they make us see
things differently once a mind has been
stretched by one aha moment it can never
go back to its original state
aha moments are the steps on the
staircase of progress and it’s because
we know that it’s because we understand
the power of aha that we’re gathered in
this room here today it’s because we
crave their stimulating effect that we
are here begging breakthroughs to
penetrate our minds aha moments are the
only virus which we are willingly
wanting to be infected by and so much so
that we have become determined to turn
aha
from a metaphysical experience into a
precise science about a year ago I was
called by an event planner
and that was because I was going to do a
speaking engagement and he called and he
said I’m really struggling with how to
title your talk and so I asked him well
what’s the struggle which is when he
says well I read your research and I’d
like to call it the science of
breakthroughs but I’m afraid that if I
use the word science but it’s gonna show
up because they’ll think it’s boring so
was going to suggest why don’t we call
it the art of aha moments which is when
the insecure academic part of me went
like you’re going to call it what and he
said the art of aha and I said yeah why
not hocus-pocus but then I thought you
know let me think about this for a
moment because you know where I come
from which is the Republic of Moldova
art at the time when I was growing up
was the equivalent of witchcraft in the
15th century if you drew anything other
than the face of Lenin or an aircraft or
a tractor you’d get burned on a stick
they call this the socialist realism but
then I thought you know I’m trying to
move forward and when you’re trying to
move forward while you’re holding on to
the past it’s the same as taking poison
and except expecting to feel good and
you know my talk is about breakthroughs
and breakthroughs do relate to both
science and art and so I said to him why
don’t we call the talk the art and the
science of aha moments which is when he
went like hahaha you can’t have art and
sciences in the same sentence that’s a
dichotomy so ladies and gentlemen today
we’re talking about the art and science
of aha moments and I’d like to share
with you a piece of my research which
has fundamentally changed my perception
it has changed the way that I create and
the way that I work actually has changed
the way that I leave and my story starts
here when I was growing up my teachers
used to tell me never leave to tomorrow
that what you can do today no less up in
wenatchee puts such a us let me see your
yeah and you have to understand I really
took that to heart you have a master’s
degree which takes two years to complete
and there’s me finishing it in nine
months you have a Dutch language and
integration college which takes five
years to complete there’s me finishing
it in two months you have a driver’s
license theory which takes a few weeks
to learn and there’s me learning it in
three hours the night before they exam
and passing I never really understood
those people who said good things come
to those that wait I was more of the
belief that good things come to those
that work hard for them and so hard work
perseverance and pushing through things
has been the motto of my entire life and
I think I believe I speak for most
people here in this room today somewhere
along the line we have gotten the idea
that the harder that we work and the
busier that we keep our children and our
families that the more effective and
successful we will become but instead of
success what this philosophy has brought
me is not one but two burnouts by the
age of 35 and if you’ve read the
internet lately you will know that I’m
not an exception to the rule burnout is
actually a global epidemic so I started
thinking well what is it it takes a
select number of people they leave the
same amount of years as the rest of us
and have seemingly the same quality of
life as the rest of us yet they go from
one aha moment to another they go from
one breakthrough to another they’ve
invented countless extraordinary things
living the rest of us scratching our
heads and asking ourselves well why
didn’t I come up with that you know like
the first telephone or artificial
intelligence or this very nifty shoes
umbrellas
and you know Aristotle said that
excellence is a habit so I thought if I
could find a pattern in the habits of
this extraordinary people then I would
crack the code – AHA and so I started on
a quest I was going to crack the code of
a ha a cherry picked my subjects very
carefully you know the Einsteins the
Vosges knee axe and Steve Jobs of the
world and I looked at their lives
through the lengths of such questions as
well what did they eat how many hours
did they work how long did they sleep
and so on and whilst I found some common
patterns like for example Nietzsche who
like to work standing up and so did
Lewis Carroll Virginia Woolf Nabokov I
also found some very peculiar habits
like Stravinsky who used to do headstand
or pizza goddess who refused to eat
beans or Beethoven who would throw ice
water over he said yeah different
strokes for different folks I found as
many habits as there were people and
whilst I wasn’t able to define a common
golden set of habits I did come to one
realization and that realization is that
it wasn’t what those people were doing
before the breakthrough occurred but
what they were doing at the time when
the breakthroughs were taking place that
was the common pattern let me see your
hand if you know what Isaac Newton was
doing when he discovered gravity
he was sitting under a tree wasn’t he
doing nothing and what about Steve Jobs
when he invented the world’s greatest
brand was he in some kind of a marketing
meeting brainstorming with the team no
he was alone on a Sunday afternoon in a
garden doing nothing and how about
Salvador Dali before he painted any of
his masterpieces was he
drafting sketching like a maniac though
he would sit down close his eyes and do
nothing
deliberately ladies and gentlemen the
biggest discoveries are not the result
of a set of habits or some kind of a
precise science they are the result of
doing nothing now
if you’re anything like me you’re not
going to take this finding at face value
doing nothing where I come from is a big
no-no it’s actually associated with a
sin
sloth linnethia you go to hell if you do
nothing so well I wanted to find the
findings and I started a deep research
I’m going to find the statistics which
are proving me that doing nothing has
anything to do with innovation with
breakthroughs and so on well you will
not be surprised there’s not much
science out there which proves how doing
nothing has anything to do with the
effectiveness or innovation the only
thing this research has brought me is a
lot of sleepless nights and frustration
and it was during those sleepless nights
that I started to practice mindfulness
meditation running and so on
I tried pretty much every trick in the
book just to get my mind to stop from
racing and these thoughts from going
crazy and to get some sleep but tries I
mean nothing was working until one night
I decided you know what I’m not going to
win this work anyway so I might as well
give up and I give up this is when it
happened it was during that night that
one thought stood out very simple
thought what was I sitting doing under
the tree what if he like me had his eyes
closed and that’s when it happened
that’s when I had my aha moment the
research that I needed to find was not
on how doing nothing is impacting
innovation but what what happens in our
brain when we close our eyes and what do
you know indeed recent
have found that when we close our eyes
and let our mind wonder an
interconnected group of pathways in our
brain highlights and activates it’s
called the default mode Network this is
what this default mode network looks
like like you know colorful cotton candy
and the peculiarity of this network is
that it only activates when you’re quiet
and you close your eyes and it
deactivates when you’re focused on any
activity until recently science has
taught that our brain is quiet during
rest now we know that this could not be
further from the truth
in fact our brain is even more active
when we are at rest than it is when
we’re focused on any activity here is
our brain right now this is your brain
at this moment as you’re focusing on
this talk and here’s our brain at rest
our brain is a lot more active when we
close our eyes and let it do nothing now
the interesting thing is that is during
that state when the default mode Network
activates that’s when we put events in
our life into a context this is when we
develop memory and this is also when new
connections are made pathways or neural
pathways which were previously not
related to one another now find their
way to each other and make love the
default mode network is like the dating
service for our neurons and this is when
the bread that you ate that morning gets
coupled with a mechanical slicer that
you read about in the paper and sliced
bread gets invented this is when the
trolley used to do groceries gets
coupled with a heavy suitcase and the
weirdly the suitcase gets invented this
is when the shoes that you ordered
online gets coupled with the memory of a
heavy rainy ones got caught in this very
nifty shoes umbrellas get invented and
ladies and gentlemen the important part
that these connections this
breakthroughs are as unique and as
limitless as your experiences and
memories our genius is not a chance
occurrence it’s not something that is
reserved for a select few there is a
genius in every single one of you there
are thousands of breakthroughs sitting
just behind your closed eyelids so let
us go through the world not limited by
what we can see not limited by what we
can think up but limitless by the
infinite possibilities that we can
conjure up as soon as we close our eyes
and let our minds wander thank you [Applause]
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