Creativity is the hardest aspect of my job. Sometimes it takes hours, even days, to come up with new ideas for a campaign. It can be overwhelming when trying to meet certain deadlines.
How can we be more effective with our time? Well, just like the title implies; mind-wandering can help boost creativity. It may be hard to believe at first, but there is a science behind it.
Your brain is still highly active when you let your mind wander. The activity shifts from one part of your brain to another. Marcus Raichle, a prominent neuroscientist who won the Kavli Prize, called this region of the brain “the default mode network.” His discovery shifted the way scientists viewed how our brains functioned.
The Benefits of Doing Nothing
There are three significant things that happen when you let your mind wander.
- You are opening up your senses to the world. The low levels of stress will help stimulate your brain. According to a meta-study (2017), mind-wandering heightens creativity and plays a noteworthy role in problem-solving and learning.
- You start to make connections between your thoughts. This will often lead to solutions for your problem. For example, my mind does not rest when I have an unresolved issue. I’m constantly trying to come up with new ideas. Surprisingly, many of them don’t happen during periods of concentration. They tend to appear, unexpectedly, during times of mind-wandering.
- Your mind will start to plan ahead and help you prepare for what might come next.
The Myth of Being Productive
Our society places a high value on being productive. It’s taught to us at a young age. We’re considered lazy or slacking off if we don’t keep a narrow focused mindset. In fact, taking breaks is what makes us more productive. Mind-wandering is necessary to fuel our creativity and problem-solving skills. This is how good ideas are born.
Johann Hari. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again. New York, Crown, 2021.
Konjedi, S., Maleeh, R. “A Closer Look at the Relationship between the Default Network, Mind Wandering, Negative Mood, and Depression. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 17, no. 4, 7 Apr. 2017, pp. 697-711, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-017-0506-z
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