Daydream Innovation

Remember daydreaming as a kid? Dreaming up new ideas to solve the problems of the day. Was there something in that? As someone that’s worked in the design industry for over 20 years I was interested in exploring the importance of daydreaming as an adult and why we do less of it.

Could too much screen time and constant distractions be a factor? And, how does this affect our capacity to be creative and innovate? This article aims to identify the extent of the issue, the effects of daydreaming on creativity and innovation and a simple solution to this problem.   

Firstly, how distracted are we?

Stay with me while I hit you with some statistics. The average Australian sleeps for 7 hours per night and work 8 hours per day. According to Roy Morgan, Australians (aged 14+) watch over 18 hours of television and spend over 19 hours accessing the internet per week, which works out to about 5.3 hours per day. With 5.3 hours dedicated to the screen each day we are left with 3.7 hours to wake up, shower, eat breakfast, get the kids out the door, connect with friends and family, e.t.c. That doesn’t leave us with much ‘free time’ per day.

When did you last make time to let your mind wonder rather than look at your phone? If you’ve ever people-watched on public transport, you would have noticed most are engrossed in their devices, getting their daily hit of dopamine on social networks, catching up on emails or consuming content. It’s no secret that we’re constantly distracted.

Recent studies have shown that just by having our mobile face down on a table, our cognitive ability is reduced by up to 30%, while part of our brain waits for the next ping to come through. Similar studies have found that we become distracted just by having a television on in the background of a room. Movements from the screen in our peripheral stimulate our brains fight or flight responses, triggered at a rate of once per second. This keeps our mind distracted and unable to rest, turning us into what Vozza referred to as ‘intellectual spectators'.

Most of us are faced with distractions from the first waking minutes of the day to that last email, article, television show or YouTube video just before bed. When does your brain have the opportunity to make sense of everything? When do you make time to identity patterns in information you’ve read or generate an original thought?

Why daydream?

Einstein, Newton and Archimedes, among other key figures in the scientific revolution, made their biggest discoveries whilst letting their mind wonder:

Newton developed his theory of gravity after he observed an apple falling fall from a tree in his mother’s garden in Lincolnshire.

The Greek philosopher Archimedes shouted “eureka” when he stepped into his bathtub and realised that there was a relationship between the portion of his body submerged and the amount of water displaced. 

Einstein was a daydreamer, it was one of his famous thought experiments that lead to him establishing the foundation of modern physics. He was 16 when the spark of special relativity occurred to him.

According to a study by The University of California, Santa Barbara, people who let their mind wonder were 41% better at creative thinking tests and better at problem solving than those that didn’t let their mind wonder. 

Scott Barry Kaufman author of “Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined”, notes three distinct types of daydreaming; poor attention control daydreaming, guilty-dysphoric daydreaming and positive-constructive daydreaming. The last form is associated with an openness to experience and reflects a drive to explore ideas, imagination, feelings and sensations. 'Openness to experience’ is one of the “Big 5” personality traits and linked with happiness, positive emotions and creativity.

The right side of the brain is responsible for pattern recognition and forming relationships, an ingredient vital for problem solving. It’s only by joining the dots that true value can be extracted from various sources of information. This means that your brain can subconsciously identify patterns between the content you consume each day and serve up ideas – but only if it’s given time to do so.

What can you do about it?

About 18 months ago I became interested in meditation, now this isn’t an article about meditation however, I discovered a simple principle which I would like to share.

In order for a thought experiments or a daydream to work, you need to create a mental sandpit, a quiet place where you can begin to explore an idea. By doing this you allow your conscious and subconscious mind to connect giving you the ability to serve up a pattern or relationship in just about anything it might have observed.

How I put this to practice. Rather than creating an additional activity in the day I fit it into my existing schedule. When I walk to work in the morning I focus on the weight of my body on my feet and nothing else. I allow other thoughts to drift by. My phone is in my bag so I’m not disturbed. Some days I hold this state until I get into the office and other days I explore thought experiments in my mind, topics ranging from philosophy, engineering, product design and medicine to writing an article about the power of daydreaming. I repeat this process on the way home. This creates the time and space I need to allow my mind to wonder and fashion thoughts and ideas.

Since starting this process I have noticed, I’m more driven to learn about different industries, skills, materials and processes that fall far outside my daily life and area of expertise. Creating headspace for myself to absorb the content I research has encouraged new connections between neurons, broadening my neural networks and allowing patterns and relationships to surface in my conscious mind. In line with Kaufman’s findings I’ve also noticed daydreaming has had a positive effect on my happiness, creativity and general level of contentment.

Happy daydreaming.

?Special thanks to Ali Nasseri for the use of his image. www.alinasseri.com

References

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity By: Adrian F. Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten W. Bos

Left-Brained Versus Right-Brained: Which is Best for Learning? By: Sharyn Hardy Gallagher, University of Massachusetts

Daydreaming really is the key to solving complex problems By: Telegraph News by Telegraph reporters

Here's How to Daydream Your Way To Success By: DRAKE BAER, Business Insider Australia

Screen time analytics. By: Roy Mogan.

How Giving Up TV For A Month Changed My Brain and My Life. By: Stephanie Vozza, Fast Company

The Assault on Reason. By: Al Gore.