Keith Richards

Keith Richards was unconscious when he composed Satisfaction.

In the 60s, he would sleep with his guitar and a tape recorder. Next morning, there it was. The most famous riff in rock history.

Creative alchemy?

Happens all the time. Step out of the studio/lab/office, and BAM! There it is. That thing that had been idling, maddeningly, right on the tip of your tongue.

• Larry Page dreamed of a way of downloading the entire web onto computers

• Jack Nicklaus saw himself in a dream holding the club in a different grip

• Dmitri Mendeleev dreamed of arranging all the chemical elements in a table

• Edison napped holding steel balls, which dropped allowing him access to his hypnogogic state

• Dalí carved an entire oeuvre from his subconscious

Pioneers of their field.

They knew the power of detaching.

Step back a little, loosen your grip. Unwind from the daily grind.

The ideas are already there.

You just have to let them surface.