Image source: Karloswayne

So, you might have heard that children having imaginary friends isn’t a bad thing.

In fact, kids with mysterious companious had far better communications skills at a young age.

Plus, the results of having an imaginary friend were long lasting: university students who recalled having an imaginary companion in childhood were more creative, more achievement oriented, and more emotionally responsive than students who didn’t have one.

The reason for this?  When you have an imaginary friend, you have to invent both sides of the conversation.   To communicate, you have to understand what a person wants to know and you need to know how to tell them.   Acting out both is tricky – and it turns out, it’s good practice for the real thing.

Unseen playmates are teaching kids the art of communication.

So what does it all mean?

I really like this idea when applied to us: adults.  Busy and clever thinkers.  No time for imaginary friends.

Well, hang on.  I think you need to find your own imaginary friend and start talking to him or her again (or it again, in the case of one little tacker who had an imaginary potato called ‘Bun’).

Why?

It puts the shoe on the other foot.  You can start to understand things from another perspective.  Hear what your ideas sound like from you to someone else.  Imagine what sort of responses you might get to your story.  Think about how people want their information and how to deliver that to them.

Take action after you’ve bounced some ideas around off your imaginary friend who can see things under a different angle; under a different light.  It might help you almost see things again for the first time and give you inspiration outside your normal bounds.

Enjoy this? If you want to take action, subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe to free email updates for The New Man Of Action!