If you’ve been waiting for a new video this week – sorry! The cold I caught lasted another week.
But it’s not all bad.
This forced break has given me a fresh perspective and I’m raring to go!
We all know that taking a break is good for us. But when we’re busier than ever we feel like we need to just push through.
So by way of a reminder, I looked into why breaks are good for us and how they help us to think creatively and make progress.
Incubation effect
We’ve all heard that people have their best ideas when they aren’t actively thinking about them. In the shower, on a walk, relaxing in the garden.
Heck, Archimedes’, Eureka! moment in the bath is a prime example. He figured out that the volume of an object can be measured by the amount of water it displaces when submerged.
This is from a cognitive phase called ‘incubation’. It happens when our minds are free to wander and our unconscious minds are free to work on solving problems in the background.
Research by Baird et al. (2012)1 found that –
Compared with engaging in a demanding task, rest, or no break, engaging in an undemanding task during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems.
In other words, they found that the best way to solve problems is to do an undemanding task. It works even better than taking a break.
While I was ill, I could only do undemanding tasks! And doing so I had some brilliant ideas for videos and for the direction of this business.
Examples undemanding tasks:
- Adding my videos to my website and reformatting the videos scripts as articles
- Listening to podcasts about building YouTube channels
- Watching videos from creators I like
- Browsing YouTube for thumbnail designs that caught my attention
The tasks felt very indulgent for me. I was too sick to write or create content from scratch, but I was well enough to learn. Something that I would love to spend more time doing!
Creative ideas
Even though Baird et al found that undemanding tasks were helpful for solving problems in the background, breaks are also useful!
In fact, breaks can be where you get your creative ideas from.
Raichle et al. (2001)2 found that when we take breaks our Default Mode Network is active. It’s like your autopilot mode.
Instead of shutting down when we take a break, our brain keeps working in the background. This is when we daydream, reflect on memories, think about the future, or come up with creative ideas.
Scientists believe the DMN helps us solve problems, understand ourselves better, and connect ideas in new ways. That’s why stepping away from a task or letting our minds wander can actually help us process information and spark new insights.
Giving our brains chance to lounge in our default mode is so important. Inactivity in our DMN has been linked to mental illness.3
So taking a break can be helpful for coming up with ideas too!
When I wasn’t doing undemanding tasks, I was just resting and trying to get better. During this time, my DMN was enjoying coming up with ideas for the future direction of the business.
You can activate your DMN by doing these things without lots of other stimulation at the same time.
- Going for a walk
- Staring out of the window
- Thinking about the past
- Taking a shower or bath
- Listening to relaxing music (without lyrics)
- Doodling or sketching
- Playing an instrument without trying to get better or learn
- Meditating
- Watching the clouds
Final thought
So the next time you feel guilty for stepping away, remember – your brain is still working. Sometimes, the best ideas happen when we stop trying so hard to find them.
References
- Inspired by distraction: mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. 2012 Oct 1. Benjamin Baird 1, Jonathan Smallwood, Michael D Mrazek, Julia W Y Kam, Michael S Franklin, Jonathan W Schooler. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22941876/ ↩︎
- A default mode of brain function. Marcus E. Raichle, Ann Mary MacLeod, Abraham Z. Snyder, +2, and Gordon L. Shulman. January 16, 2001 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 ↩︎
- Resting-state functional connectivity in neuropsychiatric disorders
Greicius, Michael. August 2008. https://journals.lww.com/co-neurology/abstract/2008/08000/resting_state_functional_connectivity_in.7.aspx ↩︎