Recently, I met up with a childhood friend whom I had not seen in a long time.  We talked about our childhoods and how we used to play Pokemon.  I mentioned to him that I had found out how much data the games took up because one of my students had it on his phone and I asked him to check to see how much data the game took up; it was only 15 megabytes.  That amount of data is very insignificant; I have taken pictures that take up more data than that.

We were both surprised that games taking up so little data had captivated us for years (along with millions of others around the world).  That led us to consider the role of something else in our enjoyment of these games: imagination.

While the games were 8-bit, and the originals had only two colors, black and white, our imaginations colored the worlds the games presented.  Our imaginations allowed us to see the worlds and characters these games portrayed; our imaginations allowed us to share in the adventure and story that the games invited us to participate in; our imaginations caused us to be inspired by these games.

This conversation caused us to consider the power of imagination.  While imagination is frowned upon as we grow older because we are constantly told that imagination causes us to dwell on what is not real, it actually has three major benefits to helping us lead fully successful and actualized lives in addition to elevating the human condition.

1. Imagination shows you what can be

Imagination shows us what can be, not just what is.  This allows us to form a vision (an image) for the future.  Those who set goals and achieve them engage in imagination because they form a vision of what the future can be.

2. Imagination creates vision

All ventures start off with imagination, some more than others.  When we look at the life of the successful innovator and businessman Steve Jobs, we see this.  He would spend a lot more time imagining than actually coming up with a physical design.  When Apple came up with the iPhone, they first imagined a machine that would serve as a phone, an mp3 player, and an internet browser all at once.  It was only after this imagination was it possible to design the actual machine.

The same holds true with business ventures like McDonald’s, for example.  Ray Kroc, who was the visionary behind the expansion of McDonald’s into a national franchise, first imagined that it was possible for a restaurant with the concept of fast food to become a national phenomenon.  When the vision became clear in his mind due to imagination, everything else was left to planning, and after planning, it became the reality we see today.

3. Imagination produces creativity

Most revolutionary inventions including electric lights, cars, and computers came after many people had imagined such objects and taught others to also imagine such objects.  It was only after long imagination, even between many people and centuries, that these inventions were realized.

This is why Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Knowledge alone could not have led to these inventions; imagination showed us the possibility first.

However, imagination that produces creativity and inventions comes when one is fully immersed in his environment from the arts and sciences and allows himself to be inspired by all that is around him.  Only then is it possible to realize his imaginations.

When we look to the arts, we can see imagined objects that eventually become real, for example, smart watches.  In the past 70 years, various television shows and comics such as Dick Tracy, The Jetsons, Star Trek, and Power Rangers imagined what features a smart watch could have.  In their one minute promotional video for the Galaxy Gear,  Samsung, being keenly aware of the connection between imagination and reality, show all these imagined smart watches and end by saying:

“After all these years, it’s finally real.”

The result is a smart watch that realizes most of the features that these imagined smart watches had.  Imagination produced reality.

Imagination leads to inspiring fictional stories, visions for successful ventures, and new inventions that elevate our standard of living and solve many problems, too many to list here.

Imagination breathes creativity, life, and renewal into the world.

Do you spend time imagining?  Have your imaginations led you to setting goals that you achieved?