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The Best Way For Your Brain To Be More Creative Is More Routine
You have to plan to let your mind wander
Last week was a whopper for me.
It was a convergence of events. My kids’ school year was ending, and we had a lot of unusual events (and a lot of emotions) to manage around that. Plus, I had several different groups of family members in town and staying with us. For completely unrelated reasons. My house was overflowing with unexpected comings and goings, atypical schedules, uncertainty, and general disarray.
I spent most of every day trying to figure out who needed to be where and at what time. And when people would be home and want to eat. And how to serve the smallest number of foods that still covered everyone’s unique dietary needs. Who needed clean towels and who needed to borrow a car for a few hours.
I was able to carve out time and space to do my most important tasks of the week. But everything else in my brain was taken up by trying to figure out the logistics of the day.
This is not how I usually operate.
If you’ve read my writing before, you know that I tend toward a pretty organized and routine life. I like structure, I like habits. I naturally crave and create them, for myself and my family.
And I haven’t always considered myself a creative person. I love math and science, I worked on Wall Street. I am fascinated by the business side of any business. None of these things are traditionally considered creative endeavors.
But in the midst of the chaos last week, I realized a few things.
Creativity is important in all areas of life
Almost every area of life requires creativity to innovate and move forward. Of course creativity is important for artists. But startups need to approach their business from a unique perspective to carve out their own niche. On Wall Street, I needed a creative approach to analyzing biotech companies. So I could find previously uncovered opportunities.
And of course writing. Writing that feels satisfying and makes an impact needs a creative approach. Most of us write about topics that have been covered before. Approaching a topic from…
