To Stimulate Creativity, Try Something Mundane.

Where do you do your best thinking? Chances are, it’s in the shower. At least that’s what most people say. The warm, cascading, daily ritual brings something out in us. It seems there’s wisdom in those suds and all we need to do is tap into it.

Personally, I’m not much for showers. They don’t quite do it for me. That’s not to say I don’t take them, I’m just more of a pool man. Powering through the water, stroke after stroke, opens a channel to my deepest, most creative faculties. I’ve solved countless problems and challenges between the lane ropes. From branding innovations for Fortune 500 companies, to new book ideas, to where I left my wallet the other night, or what’s for dinner. (In addition to creativity, swimming also triggers my appetite.)  

Is it a case of H2-Oh?

Often, it is. The soothing warmth of your shower, or the cool, splashes of the pool may help to surface some of your more creative ideas. But the power of these two places has one thing in common: they are activities that isolate you. They have a way of keeping you simultaneously focused and detached, free from distractions, allowing you to tap into rare states of solitary contemplation. 

These instances are part of a phenomenon creative thinking expert, Edward de Bono, calls “creative pauses,” which are, as their name suggests, planned pauses, built into your daily routine, that give you a chance to remove yourself from otherwise opportunistic distracting thoughts. Cognitive resets, so to speak. Because, as I’m sure you know, your most creative thinking happens when you least expect it to. And if you’re like me, your most extraordinary ?ashes of brilliance are most likely to occur while immersed in water, not thought.

Mental Vacuums. Creativity’s best friend.

Creativity occurs best in a vacuum. When we ?nd ourselves in environments completely devoid of external stimuli, our minds can’t help but ?nd things to ?ll it up. 

The problem with life in the 21st century is that opportunities for cognitive isolation are as remote as Google going out of business. When was the last time you went 2 minutes (outside of the of?ce...or not) without checking your phone, popping in headphones or staring at a conveniently placed TV screen. With so many different gadgets and screens vying for our attention, being unstimulated or uninformed today feels almost unnatural. Not exactly fertile ground for random creative thinking.

The key to the creative pause, is conscious pre-occupation, the sort that completely frees you from any sort of mental stimulation. I get that it’s impossible to fully shut-off your brain, what I’m saying is you need to ?nd tasks that are familiar and isolated. Tasks that require constant involvement without making you think too hard about them. Things like running, mowing the lawn, going for a walk or my favorite, swimming.
Come to think of it, creative pauses are like empty swimming pools. When empty the only way to swim again is to ?ll the pool.

In the void, a thought will appear. Or many.

In the 90’s, I did research for Lego on the rami?cations of emerging digital play on an otherwise tactile toy market. This was at the dawn of the Tamagotchi era. Remember those handheld, egg-shaped, digital pocket pets? The ones that required constant love and attention and were the object of intense desire for droves of kids all over the world? As you might imagine, they posed a bit of a threat to Lego at the time.

Tamagotchis required nothing from their youthful users as far as creativity was concerned. What do you expect from 3 buttons and a 1x1inch screen? You push a couple buttons and put it back into your pocket. They made it too easy for kids to lose focus. They were sapping children’s creative skills and forcing them into what I call, passive-interactive mode.

So I began conducting experiments on the effects of screen time on creative play. This involved me handing Lego bricks to children in between periods of computer engagement and asking them to create something. It wasn’t going well. Instead of putting any effort into building, they were just waiting for the next round of computer time. That is, until the network broke down for an entire 20 minutes and the kids had nothing to occupy their minds with but the Lego that they had previously disregarded. They’d all built Lego before, it was familiar and, for the next 20 minutes, it was all they had. In that time, I saw some of the most inspired and creative Lego structures I had ever seen in my life. Oh…mundane. No, it doesn’t mean people from Denmark like me are boring. At least I hope not.

About the author:

Martin Lindstrom, a global expert and pioneer in the fields of consumer psychology, marketing, and neuroscientific research, has worked with such brands as McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Nestlé, American Express, Microsoft Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Named one of TIME Magazine’s “World's 100 Most Influential People”, he authored the NY Times and international bestseller "Buyology—Truth and Lies About Why We Buy” and "Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy".

Get to know Martin better on Twitter, Facebook or at MartinLindstrom.com