Fantasy and reality are constantly changing concepts; therefore the line between them is imaginary. This is the world of the creative entrepreneur.
To take cognizance of thus imaginary line is to impose limitations on yourself, your company and your products. In fact it can be argued that the more formal knowledge you have the greater the limitations you impose on your future growth. When people limit their imaginations they limit their future.
Steve Jobs grew up during the 1960’s a period well known for its use of hallucinogenic drugs like LSD. LSD blurs the line between reality and fantasy mixing the senses and making unlikely associations. This is what Jobs was talking about when he refers to joining the dots (see quote). The more dots you have the likely your are to create a revolution within your industry and product lineup.
This is not to say that hallucinogens is the recommend route to product innovation! This is merely an anecdote to us as business owners to loosen up, to think freely, to think differently, to reject boundaries and to refute the ‘impossible’.
We have to find ways to broaden our experiences and to reject the imaginary line between reality and fantasy. This is applied imagination.