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This Imagination Expert Can Help You Get Your Best Creative Work Done The author and scientist shares how to make something compelling -- and get more work done.

By Linda Lacina

Jim Davies

How Success Happens is a podcast featuring polar explorers, authors, ultra marathoners, artists and more to better understand what connects dreaming and doing. Linda Lacina, Entrepreneur.com's managing editor, guides these chats so anyone can understand the traits that underpin achievement and what fuels the decisions to push us forward. Listen below or click here to read more shownotes.

When we think about the imagination, we're more likely to think about writing a novel than planning our day or finding our keys. Yet, imagination helps us with all kinds of visualization -- and better understanding our imagination can help us maximize what we create.

Related: Kathryn Minshew of The Muse: Decide Who You Are, or Have it Decided for You (Podcast)

Jim Davies knows this topic well. A cognitive scientist, he's the director of the Science of Imagination Laboratory at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. His work looks at how we use visual thinking to do everything from solving problems to imagining new worlds. He's been called the next Malcolm Gladwell and in his research, he's used scientific findings to explore an array of topics, including how we portray aliens on TV and why religion makes us feel at one with the universe. He's also a professional artist, swing dancer, calligraphist and published author who is usually working on five books at once.

In our latest episode of How Success Happens, Davies, will help us better understand creativity -- and appreciate what's happening when we find something compelling or even boring. He'll also share his own strategies for being productive with creativity -- from managing energy to unsung Google Doc features and his very own memory palace -- all to ensure no idea is ever wasted.

Related: Podcast: When PowerPoints Weren't Working, This Powerful Exec Passed Out Comic Books Instead

To subscribe to this podcast, find us on the following platforms: SoundCloud, Stitcher, iTunes, Google Play.

Linda Lacina

Entrepreneur Staff

Linda Lacina is a special projects director at Entrepreneur.com. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Family Circle. Email her at llacina@entrepreneur.com.

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