Incubation is the ability of the brain to solve problems and gain insights unconsciously. It’s incubation at play when you remember moments when
- You found the solution to a problem while in the shower or while taking a walk
- You slept over a problem and found breakthrough insights into it
- You spent hours concentrating and focusing on a problem and you couldn’t make any progress but the moment you switch to a different activity, everything clicks
The unconscious mind can handle multiple streams of problems without much effort, something that the conscious mind isn’t capable of. There’s much latent processing power that the unconscious holds and incubation helps tap into it