Use Mind-Wandering to Fuel Your Creativity and Productivity
This semi-structured approach to unstructured brainstorming gets the ideas flowing
“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.”
— Steven Wright
Cultural norms tell us daydreaming is a sign of laziness, unproductivity, lack of self-control. At times, all those things can be true. But it’s totally normal and natural for the mind to wander. For a creative person, mind-wandering is vital.
It’s also a sign of smarts, science has shown.
Letting your mind wander — better yet, encouraging it to wander, as I do — allows the brain to cogitate subconsciously on what you know, what you wonder about, and what you might do about it all — all without you realizing how proactive and productive you’re being.
The latest research reveals that a wandering mind, coupled with extensive experience at a given profession or pursuit—art, music, writing, science, business or otherwise — leads to the much coveted state of flow, where the conscious mind lets go and creative ideas are generated on autopilot.
Flow can just happen. But as I’ve learned, we can also make it happen. Here’s the science of it all, plus some tips on how to…
