Of course, humans are not robots and cannot be expected to output creative ideas just on a whim. But most people will agree that when you involve yourself totally in something (knitting, cleaning, cooking), your absolute concentration puts you in a conducive mode for snippets of ideas to combine together and hatch from their shells.
Can you guys spot a pattern in which your innovative ideas occur? I have noticed of late that my ideas come when I’m showering my kid. In fact, the Genesis of this post came after I stepped out from the bathroom before him. I’m wondering if I can somehow systematise my production of creative ideas? Need an idea? Shower my kid! Let’s embrace factory mode!
Are you guys in control of your muse? Or you count your blessings when inspiration strikes you?
Driving, sometimes walking or cycling. Something very different about the way the brain works when it is engaged in movement or coordination and receiving dynamic visual/sensory input.
For sure. Road trips (without traffic jams) are the best thing ever
In the shower 🚿 and at 4am when I should be 😴💤 😂😂 I can't say I've had great ideas when I was bathing my kids. We usually had baths not showers and my mind was focused in the moment on play/fun time (lots of bath toys and giggles) so that's not a time when mind would wander. But my own showers and/or bathtime are where great ideas would emerge, for sure. Another time would be long walks in nature.
The great ideas in the shower was also my fun fact friday post one week, linked to this National Geographic article The science of why you have great ideas in the shower
Well done! Nothing like killing two birds with one stone. Does this mean that I won’t win Fun Fact Friday this week? 😜
I just realised that I had commented on your fun Friday post back then. Great recall for me haha
hehe yes I didn't realise that either. Now we know there is "science" behind it. I am a great believer in and also fascinated by the power of the subconscious mind!
Ahhh apartments in my country are small, so there is no space for a bathtub 🛁 haha.
running, walking, reading, and writing.
i’m starting to write more lately, it’s much harder than reading but seems to generate more actionable, battle-tested ideas for me.
It seems that your mind leads you in directions you never conceived beforehand.
I am a very task-oriented writer, for better or for worse😅. I usually know exactly what I want to say, so writing is a way to brain dump so that the thoughts don’t keep swirling around in my mind haha
Reading. Especially academic papers or research reports. Often, through serendipity, you’ll read something (some small tidbit) that you never knew before and it will take you on a delightful voyage of discovery.
Came here to say exactly this. Reading research papers and connecting the dots.
Wow, do you read research papers strictly on the same discipline or branch out to related disciplines so that you can cross-pollinate ideas?
I focus primarily on academic research on Internet protocols, cybersecurity, and machine learning, published typically by ACM and IEEE. These are deep subjects in their won right. Now I add Bitcoin research to the mix which keeps me fairly busy.
Yes and yes.
Stick to the topic when working on a project. Then after that, open it up wide.
I call it “scholar hacking”. Exploiting Gray Data for fun and profit.
I agree that the Universe presents you with things to learn at that particular point in time when your mind either needs it desperately or is prepared to receive it. Very often I learn something to find shortly after that it’s useful for my work or life to fulfill a purpose
Ultimately God.
Amen
So yourself. Obvi.
It's funny how my best ideas always come to me when I'm about to fall asleep!
Make sure you have a notepad on the bedside table, then :) It's pretty usual, most of us ignore this detail. It happens because our brainwaves start flowing from alpha to theta waves. The inverse happen in the morning ;)
I keep one in the drawer of my bedside table :)
So trusty like an alarm clock ⏰!
Inputs: reading, working on things strikes my fancy without care for an outcome other than learning, and talking to people.
Outputs come all the time.
You remind me of the saying “a watched kettle never boils.”
Work on a problem very hard. Focus on the details.
Then go for a walk. I'll somehow keep thinking about the problem but in a more random way. I'll make unexpected connections and find inspiration.
Sleeping helps too instead of going for a walk.
Did you finish watching the Learning how to learn course? I guess that's what stimulated this question ;)
I need to learn from you and develop the discipline to step away from the problem strategically haha
Yes, that's what half of the course is about ;)
Funny you should ask just as I've retired to my idea parlor. When I feel like this, I come here to allow my muse to speak. I'm surrounded now by dark polished wood and brass, thousands of books, a solid oak desk, leather couch and recliner and mini fridge stocked with a variety of juices and diet sodas. My muse will be here soon. It never occurred to me that people had good ideas anywhere else!
Sounds like Hogwarts. I wanna visit there sometime.
Love that you called it an idea parlour, I think it presets your mind to churn out creative ideas
Doing something mindless - dishes, weeding - while NOT listening to podcasts. And always have a little paper notebook handy, to write down ideas.
(I've temporarily stopped listening to podcasts. I love them, but it was seriously becoming a little bit of an addiction. I'll try podcasts again, maybe while I'm traveling.)
How did you internalise the habit of carrying this notebook with you everywhere?
I do that too, but I kinda have several workbooks at several places. Which can get a bit disorganised at times haha
Yeah, several notebooks would cause a problem. I have ONE notebook that I use 95% of the time. It's a handy size, pocketable. I just bring it with. Writing notes down on your phone takes second place to a paper notebook. Just having the phone around can be problematic sometime. Especially if you're with other people.
Running in the morning during sunrise.
Sounds like the best morning routine tbh
I've never had a problem that sitting alone without distractions for an hour couldn't fix.
I can’t do that, I think. My ENFP mind will feel bored n craving for any sort of inputs - so much so that I cannot focus haha
This sounds like something I need to write about soon ✍️
My ideas mostly come when I'm taking a walk. There are other activities, but walking activates much
Interesting! I walk a lot too, but ideas hardly come to me. I wonder if I’m too task-oriented when I walk, engrossed in moving from Point A to Point B haha
lot of inspo on design twitter which i save in my swipe file
I like your method, except that I will like to do it with the books I read. Just typed out the lines i underlined in “The End of Absence” today!
Usually when I'm doing something unrelated to whatever I'm trying to accomplish.
Ahh letting the subconscious work its magic in the background
You are not alone in having a good idea or insight during a shower. There are some interesting psychological lit and plenty of popular musings about it.
Legend has it that Archimedes had his famous "Eureka!" moment while taking a bath. According to the story, he realized the principle of buoyancy when he observed the water level rising as he got into the bathtub, making him to shout "Eureka!" (Greek for "I have found it!").
For me, driving produces my best ideas. It's a time when I can't be interrupted by others, and the adrenaline of being surrounded by tons of moving death machines keeps me mentally vigilant.
Other than on the road, some of my best thinking occurs as work starts dwindling down. Getting closer to the end of the workday puts my mind into overdrive.
Well done you. Usually at the end of the workday, I would be as deflated as a balloon and just can’t wait to get out of the workplace. On better days, I have the mood to declutter, but that doesn’t come often haha
Mostly around water and listening to music. Ideas have never been a problem for me, I have too many of them. These days just trying to knock out all my childhood dreams I have first. Then will get to the ideas I have in my back pocket.
It’s nice that you are honouring your childhood self by trying to make those dreams come true
After graduate school scrambled my brain, many of my best ideas are things I realize I used to know and understand.
lol! Do you piece these fragmented ideas together in ways that catch you by surprise?
Yes, but my scrambled brain can't think of an example.
The woods. Walk a dog or go hunting. Plenty of time to reflect and relax. That's where...
You remind me of the Japanese phrase, shinrin yoku, which means forest bathing
Ha funny, didn't know such a term even existed. I guess some things come to you very naturally.
Driving & trekking
I feel like you know how to take care of yourself much.
Merry Christmas!
The internet
Do you need to restrain yourself from spending too much time online?
Creativity is within the mind, I find creative ideas when I usually sit In silence and start to think about my strengths which always helps me to grow. By sitting in silence my brain often shows me the things that happened in the past sometimes the memories that are in my unconscious.
Thanks for sharing! Makes me Google to find out why sitting in silence is good for creativity.