Famous Figures Who Credit Their Success to the Subconscious Mind

From Einstein to Jobs, learn how these influential figures used their dreams and intuition to achieve greatness

Dreams and intuition have long been recognized as powerful sources of inspiration and problem-solving. Many famous people in a variety of fields, including science, art, and technology, have credited their ideas and solutions to dreams or intuition.

Albert Einstein:

Einstein was a physicist who is best known for his theory of relativity and his famous equation, E=mc². He believed that the intuitive mind was a “sacred gift” and often used thought experiments to help him arrive at his conclusions. He once said, “The only real valuable thing is intuition.”

Sigmund Freud:

Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and is considered the father of modern psychology. He believed that the unconscious mind played a significant role in the development of ideas and solutions, and he used dream interpretation as a way to understand the unconscious desires and conflicts of his patients.

Salvador Dali:

Dali was a surrealist painter who credited many of his most famous works to his dreams and his ability to tap into his unconscious mind. He believed that the dream state was a gateway to the imagination and often used his dreams as inspiration for his paintings.

Isaac Newton:

Newton was a mathematician and scientist who is famous for his laws of motion and his work on calculus. He also credited his insights to his dreams and intuition, and once wrote;

“I keep the subject constantly before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light.”

Steve Jobs:

Jobs was the co-founder of Apple and was known for his ability to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions. He believed in the power of intuition and the importance of following your gut instincts. 
He once said,

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Nikola Tesla:

Tesla was an inventor and electrical engineer who made significant contributions to the development of electricity and the radio. He believed in the power of intuition and credited many of his inventions to insights that he received in dreams.

Viktor Schauberger:

Viktor Schauberger was a renowned Austrian naturalist and inventor who used his intuition and dreams to understand the natural world. He believed that nature had its own ways of communicating with us, which could be accessed through meditation as well as through our dreams. He once wrote: “In my dream, I saw how Nature works in her innermost being.”

Marcel Vogel:

Marcel Vogel worked at IBM for over 20 years, where he focused on research related to magnetic materials and their potential uses in technology. Despite facing many challenges and setbacks in his work, Vogel remained committed to finding innovative solutions and often turned to dreams and intuition for guidance.

One notable instance of this was when Vogel was working on the development of a magnetic coating for use in computer hard disks. After trying numerous formulas that all resulted in failure, Vogel fell asleep in his laboratory after working for 18 to 20 hours. He then had a dream in which a can of molasses floated in front of him with the words “infinite viscosity” echoing in his ears. This dream led Vogel to the realization that he needed to combine two specific chemical agents, and this breakthrough ultimately resulted in the successful creation of the magnetic coating that is still used in modern hard disks.

Marie Curie:

Curie was a physicist and chemist who is famous for her work on radioactivity. She believed in the power of intuition and once said,

“I was taught that the way of progress was neither swift nor easy.”