Distractions and Daydreams Help Inspire Creativity
Lack of Focus Can Be Good!
People go to extreme lengths to improve their concentration and ability to focus, including taking Ritalin. The science writer Caroline Williams even had her left prefrontal lobe zapped with magnetic pulses to resolve her ‘attention issues’. Many people take attention-training courses.¹
This is because we are often advised to stop daydreaming, turn off social media and work in a room free of noise and distractions. The famous writer Jonathan Franzen finds this advice so helpful that he often writes in a room simply furnished with a chair and a table. He has no electronics or Wi-Fi in the room and he sometimes wears earphones and even wears a blindfold!
Is it true that concentration and ability to focus are so important, or do we over-emphasize these abilities?
The Power of Distractions for Creative Thinking
Several studies actually show that many creative people are more easily distracted than others!
Researchers at Harvard, including Shelley Carson, tested students on their ability to avoid unwanted distractions. Some found it difficult to do this, but many had ‘weak’ filters. Surprisingly, the students who were the most easily distracted were also the most creative on several measures. For example, they had written books or released albums at a young age.²
Another study conducted by Holly White of the University of Michigan and Priti Shah of The University of Memphis made similar findings. They researched adults with severe ADHD and found that they were more creative than non-sufferers and they were also more likely to have made significant creative achievements. The most easily distracted were the most successful.³
Is Focus Over-rated?
Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freeman argue that focus is over-rated. They write that a growing number of organizations, such as the University of Chicago and the U.S. special operations forces, place a growing emphasis on cross-training and cross-functional interactions.⁴
They also mention a psychologist called Ben Fletcher, who runs a business consultancy called FIT and spends a lot of time helping managers improve.
He found that many problems in organizations are caused by over-assertive, rigid and inflexible managers who formed ‘habit-webs’. In other words, they stuck rigidly to routines. Apparently, when they made simple changes to their lives, such as changing the route they took to work or where they ate lunch, it enhanced their managerial skills.⁵
These Distractions Can Inspire New Ideas
Why not use distractions to your advantage? Here are three small steps you can take to see if distractions can enhance your creativity.
1. Write in a Cafe for Inspiration
According to David W. Berner, writing in a café often assists the ability of authors to write dialogue. Listen to the tone of people’s voices, eavesdrop on their conversations, and watch their reactions. Study their underlying attitudes to each other as well. Staying in a silent room all day isn’t going to improve the dialogue in your stories!
Working in a café can also enhance your scenes and stories. Watch the people in the café and see how they react to noises and actions, such as a waiter dropping plates accidentally. Even piped music may inspire an idea!
Berner suggests absorbing it all and letting it inspire your subconscious mind. Finally, he writes:
“… researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found noise at about 70 decibels — the equivalent of a busy coffee shop — distracted participants just enough to help them think more creatively.” ⁶
2. Use Daydreams to Enhance Your Creative Thinking
If you need to pay attention to a lecture or a job needing sharp focus and precision, daydreaming is a bad habit. However, if you want to give your subconscious free rein and inspire creativity, why not try it?
The famous writer, Joyce Caroll Oates, writes that even though people think that she is terrifically busy, she actually spends most of the time looking out of the window. She recommends it!
3. Let Dreams Give Rise to Great Ideas
Dave Birss takes a nap every day because he is such a believer in the power of dreams to enhance creativity.
Several great ideas arose from dreams. For example, the melody of “Yesterday” came to Paul McCartney in a dream. When he woke up, he immediately went to the piano to work out the chords.⁷
Einstein often said that a dream led to his theory of relativity. He dreamed that cows behind an electric fence all jumped back when the farmer switched it on, although the farmer told him that they had jumped away from the fence one by one. Einstein eventually reached the conclusion that things look different depending on where you are standing because of the amount of time that it takes light to travel.
Don’t worry too much if you find it difficult to concentrate and focus. Instead, be open to new experiences and use distractions to become more creative!
References
¹ Harford, Tim. Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives. Riverhead Books, 2016. P.16
² Ibid, p.16
³ Ibid, p.19
⁴ Abrahamson, Eric and Freeman, David. H. A Perfect Mess. The Hidden Benefits of Disorder. How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place.Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006. p.116
⁵ Ibid., p.117
⁶ https://thewritelife.com/writing-noisy-place/
