I grew up in an environment where daydreaming was considered loafing or a waste of time.  The prevailing logic was simple: If you were daydreaming, you weren’t working.  Recently, while reading Brian Clark’s blog on the web site Lateral Action, I found out that there is sound scientific evidence connecting daydreaming with creativity—people who daydream more are more creative, innovative and better problem solvers.  This puts daydreaming into the respectful category of “productive activity.”  According to Teresa Belton, a research assistant from East Anglia University in England, “Daydreams involve a more relaxed style of thinking, with people more willing to contemplate ideas that seem silly or far-fetched.”  This is what sets the stage for creative behavior.  To illustrate, Brian tells the story of Arthur Fry, a 3M engineer and Presbyterian choral singer.  Mr. Fry marked songs in his choir book with little pieces of paper which routinely fell out causing him to lose his place.  During one particular Sunday service, Mr. Fry started to daydream.  What he needed was a sticky piece of paper that wouldn’t fall out of his choir book.  As a result, the Post-it Note was born using a glue product that was going to be discarded by 3M because it didn’t stick well enough.  The lesson here is that if you want to make your day more productive, spend part of it daydreaming.