"The Eureka Effect (also known as the aha moment or eureka moment) refers to the common human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept." - Wikipedia
You feel stymied. You worry about the ability to handle complex problems. About finances. About business and how people will perceive you. Suddenly, it all becomes clear what you were meant to do. Your life as a solo entrepreneur is made clear to you. When you suddenly get it -- that's your aha! moment.
A sudden flash of insight doesn't just happen. There is a long history, an interior cauldron of passion, frustration, knowing it's out there, even when you don't know what "it" is.
Aha! moments are part of what keeps the human race progressing. Many entrepreneurs have started by listening to and trusting them on their successful journey.
It's Human Nature
The Eureka moment got its name from Archimedes, a Greek who lived in the Third Century B.C. Jumping out of the tub water, forgetting that he was naked, running down the streets shouting "Eureka!" meaning "I found it!"
The ancient mathematician discovered how to measure the volume of an irregular object, probably himself, in the bathwater. He solved a fundamental problem that had been confusing mathematicians ever since numbers were invented.
What this shows is:
- Aha! moments have been inspiring humans for millennia.
- They happen at the darnedest times.
- The immediate result can be embarrassing, if not to the aha-er, then to the people around them.
- Inspiration chooses its time; we don't.
- A range of knowledge and a deep passion for a subject is fertile fields that inspire, and it doesn't show up in a vacuum.
- Without follow-through, aha! moments are mere anecdotes.
The Elements of Aha!
Whether you call the moment Eureka or Aha!, the epiphany produced doesn't happen in a void. It would help if you were open to the idea of inspiration, however unlikely. And run with that idea.
Ashley Morris, CEO of Capriotti's Sandwich Shop, suggested that we examine the flash of insight by looking at its viability using three filters.
1. Are you passionate about this idea? If it doesn't get your adrenaline going, doesn't spark a hundred pictures in your brain, you won't have the perseverance to see it through to completion. Spend your time on ideas that you are genuinely committed to them.
2. Is it possible? Can you put together a reasonable, doable plan to accomplish it? If not, can you look at it from a different angle and come up with something workable? If you keep playing with it and it just won't gel, it's time to get back in the tub!
3. Are you willing to do the goal setting and the grunt work? Can you set up a series of goals to get you from today to accomplish your vision? Are you willing to do the tedious, take terrifying steps that will lead you toward it step by step, with goals slated for three months, six months, one year, five years, whatever it takes?
Officially called "spontaneous comprehension," -- if you're open to aha! moments, they will come! They aren't accidental but the result of enthusiasm, creativity, dissatisfaction, determination, and a willingness to be inspired.
"I call it an Aha! Moment. It is the moment when I can hear when I know that an answer is being offered to me. All other sounds measurably fade, including the banter in my brain. It is when the answer travels from my heart to my head and says, "This is so." No questions follow, no objections interrupt; just the recognition that I must listen and follow." -- Sharon E. Rainey, Making a Pearl from the Grit of Life.
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