The Science of Creativity, Part 2
It happens without warning. It just appears from nowhere. Where did it come from? How did you do that? You were just zoning out at your desk in a post Taco Bell coma and it hits you. Inspiration! Your brain is an amazing machine, and we really don’t know how it works. Where do great ideas come from?
Not to long ago I wrote a disappointed review of an article in Scientific American about new research being done on the subject of creativity. There is a similar article published in the new issue of Wired (November 2009) called “Flights of Fancy: Why an idling mind is the mother of invention” written by Clive Thompson. He talks about daydreaming and studies that are being done on the brain when it is idling. The conclusions seem to be that rather being time we are wasting it is actually a critical and complex brain function. It is similar to storage backup on a computer because the part of your brain that is active when your mind wanders is responsible for processing long term memories.
The article goes on to talk about the implications that this could have on business situations that focus on efficiency and productivity. Since daydreaming can’t be considered “billable time” it is safe to say that most businesses don’t encourage it. In reality, this could be some of the most valuable we spend at work. I am sure you can remember plenty of times when you had an insight to a problem come into your brain seemingly out of nowhere. That seems to be how our brains work, often hidden and unknown. You can’t force yourself to be creative.
The part of the article that I disagree with, however, is the recommendation that “unblocking” the social internet sites would somehow increase our daydreaming time. Letting your mind wander is not the same as updating your Facebook status or watching Flight of the Concords on YouTube. Surfing the web is an activity that requires thinking, no matter how mindless it is. Killing time and procrastinating isn’t going to lead to a breakthrough in creativity.
I would go a step further and say that surfing the web might actually stifle the creative power of daydreaming. Surfing the web, although lots of fun, keeps our brains constantly “on.” The brain is a muscle that needs to relax, too. It is the resting that is critical so that our brain can do it’s magic. Like I said when I wrote about the link between dreaming and creativity, sleep allows our minds to do things that we can’t do when we are awake. The same is true of daydreaming – if we give our minds the chance. We can’t use daydreaming as an excuse to be unproductive, but next time you come back to consciousness at your desk after a good daydream maybe you can feel a little less guilty.
