Is a publishing professional with more than twenty years of

Step 2: tell Your Subconscious What You Want
I  know  of  a  top  executive  who  took  his  staff  on  a  working 
retreat to a ski resort. He held meetings with them all day Friday, 
and at the end of that time, he spelled out the problem to be solved 
at Monday morning’s meeting, admonishing them to prepare thor-
oughly for the session. Then he turned them loose for a weekend 
on the slopes.
They, of course, gave the problem no conscious thought what-
soever—which is just what he figured would happen.
He knew that the problem would lodge in the subconscious of 
at least some of his advisors, and when the brainstorming began 
on Monday morning, they would surprise him—and themselves—
with insights they didn’t even know they had.
Such is the power of the subconscious mind.
You  can  bring  that  same  power  to  bear  on  a  “brainstorming 
session” of one. And you don’t need a ski resort to do it.
Review  the  problem  and  the  solution  you’re  after.  Be  sure 
you’ve defined the problem clearly and specifically, but don’t limit 
the scope of the potential solution. (You don’t want a better potato 

---

247
chip bag; you want a way to keep chips fresh and intact.) Then 
put the problem out of your conscious mind. If you catch yourself 
brooding on it, send it back to the subconscious.