Things are going well. The sun is shining, you’ve got a full cup of hot coffee, but then you remember that big deadline you’ve got coming up. Cue lack of creativity and zero thoughts going through your brain. But this is always the case according to a neuroscientist.
John Kounios of Drexel University told the Washington Post that no matter how hard we try, deadlines put a big dampner on our creativity. Bye-bye happy face, hello panic.
Fear not, according to science, these are the best ways you can boost your creativity before breakfast.
Start walking
Finally, we learn there might’ve been something beneficial to the London tube strikes – a creativity boost.
Stanford researchers found that the more you move, the greater your creative output, even if you’re just wandering around your office.
‘We’re not saying walking can turn you into Michelangelo,’ study co-author Marily Oppezzo said. ‘But it could help you at the beginning stages of creativity.’
We’re just a few steps behind you, Marily.
Don’t tidy your desk
As many requests as you receive on a daily basis to declutter your desk, now there’s a reason to ignore them all.
A messy environment can actually increase creativity because it’s increasing your brain’s capacity.
‘There’s a multibillion dollar industry to help people de-clutter their lives,’ Kathleen Vohs, PhD, of the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, who conducted the research said. ‘Relationship partners, employers, everyone wants you to be neat … but there may be times being messy is good, too. I think messy people feel vindicated big time.’
As Einstein allegedly said: ‘If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?’
Let’s hope the same goes for our messy wardrobes.
Escape to the great outdoors
Now we know how great walking is for creativity, this latest piece of advice doesn’t come as a surprise.
Research by Washington State University professor of interior design Janetta Mitchell McCoy, PhD, suggests that spending time in natural settings may boost creativity.
Asking students to design their own workspaces, judges found that the Instagram-worthy, sun-drenched desks with natural wood led to more creativity.
We knew there was something in our Scandi chic obsession after all.
Dim the lights
You might be forced to illuminate your bedroom to wake up sleepy eyes, but if you’re trying to kick-start your creativity you’re better off walking around in near-darkness.
German researchers found that a darkened room actually encourages free thinking and innovation.
‘Darkness increases freedom from constraints, which in turn promotes creativity,’ explains Anna Steidle of the University of Stuttgart and Lioba Werth of the University of Hohenheim.
A dimly lit environment ‘elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination, and reduced inhibition,’ all of which encourage innovative thinking.
Now if only we had a dimmer switch at our desks.
Go get coffee
We know what you’re thinking, ‘mmm coffee, great idea’. But wait. Hold onto your cappuccino foam for a minute, we’re not talking about the greatness of coffee here, we’re talking about ambient noise.
Turns out, Carrie Bradshaw and all those creative types hanging around your local Costa are onto something.
Research published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that ambient noise (like the levels you normally find in coffee shops) actually stimulate creativity.
This sort of noise ‘increases processing difficulty, inducing a higher construal level and thus promoting abstract processing’. In words we can all understand, this means we actually detach a little bit from reality.
Keep those flat whites coming.
