What a Great Idea!

Hey, Middle Schoolers. Have you ever had a lightbulb moment? You suddenly solved a hard problem, got a great idea, or wrote something so good, and you don't how it happened. Guess what? The Wall Street Journal researched how lightbulb moments happen and shared some tips on how to get them to happen again. 


Mizz C. has boiled down their advice for all you geniuses-in-the-making so you can generate your own brainstorms: 

• Work as hard as you can on your project, music, writing, artwork, building, inventing, or problem solving. 

• Put your work away.

• Relax.

• Waste some time. 

• Let your mind wander, daydream, or get sleepy. 

• Be a little kid again and let your ideas run wild.

Down time is often the very time when that lightbulb inside your head goes on after you've worked hard. 

Mizz C's lesson is over. You may go now. But if you want to stick around, here's a crazy story about someone who connected two ideas and came up with a GREAT idea.

Back in 1974, a paper engineer named Arthur Fry walked into a meeting. He listened to an engineer, Sheldon Silver, talk about a formula he'd invented for a new kind of glue. Boring! This new glue wasn't even strong enough for two pieces of paper to stick together. People left the meeting wondering why on earth anyone would want weak glue. 

Sometime afterward, Arthur Fry went to church to sing in the choir. As usual, he lost his place in his hymn book. The little scraps of paper he used to mark hymns kept fluttering out. As he listened to a dull sermon later on, Arthur’s mind began to wander. In the middle of daydreaming, Arthur had a a lighbulb moment! 

Or more specifically a glue and paper moment! He pictured something that hadn’t existed before—little paper notes that lightly stuck to paper without tearing it. He could use them to keep from losing his place in his hymn book during church services. Other people could use them to attach notes without clips. Middle school students could use them to mark important pages in their textbooks when they studied for tests. Bingo! Arthur Fry’s brainstorm turned into the hugely popular Post-It® Notes. 

Although Sheldon Silver invented the glue, Arthur Fry gets the A+ in the history books. His off-duty brain was the one that connected his hymn book, scraps of paper, with the not-very-sticky glue. Thank you Arthur and Sheldon.