The Science of Self-Help

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The Imagination Institute

I randomly came across this and wondered…”what in the world is an imagination institute?” - The Imagination Institute’s mission is “measurement, growth, and improvement of imagination across all sectors of society”. 

What interested me is their grants competition which seeks to “lay the foundation for the long-term development of an “Imagination Quotient” and how to build imagination.” 

This sounds an awful like what this project is seeking to do with habits and self improvement in general. It joins other groups like Duckworth’s lab for grit and other labs for habituation (like BJ Fogg’s TinyHabit program) in attempting to quantify and measure what were previously thought of as vagaries of the mind.

I love it. But unlike habit formation, their grants are being offered from $150,000 - $200,000!!! Up to 15 of them!

I suppose imagination is a sexier idea than habit formation, because I don’t see that much money being offered up to habit researchers. Though Duckworth did get a MacArthur “Genius” Grant…..I wonder if I could apply for a grant?

Hmm….