Creativity is probably the most powerful resource we have. Not only for our progress as individuals and our success in daily life, but also for the development of mankind in general.
Certainly most of what I do for work requires constant problem solving and can be classified as creative work.
I often wonder: What could I be doing to get the most out of my creative abilities or maybe even improve them? Is that even possible?
Well, thanks to Andrew Huberman (a neuroscientist, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and a podcaster) I am a lot wiser now.
Although much still remains a mystery, science is becoming better at understanding the mechanisms involved in creativity.
Indeed it turns out there is a lot we can do to enhance our creative innovation abilities.
I’m briefly going to relay to you here some methods that I think are interesting and easy to do.
I have and will be applying all of it myself.
If you want the full lowdown, you’ll find all of these methods (and much more) discussed in the Huberman Lab podcast episode “The Science of Creativity and How to Enhance Creative Innovation”.
You can find it here:
https://hubermanlab.com/the-science-of-creativity-and-how-to-enhance-creative-innovation/
It’s all backed by solid science and the studies in question are referenced in the link above as well.
To my surprise I found out I’ve already been doing all of those things in some form. But I was never aware of their effects on creativity specifically. I certainly have renewed motivation to keep up with it now.
Very briefly, some basic premises first.
We are using the commonly accepted definition of creativity here:
Creativity is the ability to generate novel ideas that are useful.
There are two types of thinking that are especially important for creativity to happen: divergent and convergent thinking.
Divergent thinking is open, brainstorm-like thinking. Free association.
Convergent thinking is when you analyse, filter through options and focus in on specific things.
We have specific, separate brain circuits for divergent and convergent thinking. They are both triggered by the neurotransmitter dopamine.
In addition, memory and our ability retrieve things from it plays an important role.
OK – here are the tools I wanted to mention and how I’ll be applying them.
Positive mood
It’s been shown that our divergent thinking can be reliably improved by inducing positive mood.
Our mood is related to the tonic (baseline) level of dopamine circulating in our brain. This baseline level is different for everyone. So some people generally start off on a better mood to begin with, while others can use a bit more of a nudge to get there.
If I’m not in a good state of mind already when I get to work, I’ll try doing things that help me get there.
I already have a morning routine that helps me with getting to a better state of mind. It involves some yoga, meditation, sunlight (or SAD light) exposure, good coffee & breakfast, reading and going outside for a bit to do chores.
I feel like I’m at a pretty good place if I can just keep up with those things. I could add to that maybe listening to some music I enjoy.
If I’m having a bad day (it happens especially when I’m tired), maybe it’s best that day I focus on tasks that require less creativity. I always have admin-type work that needs doing.
Think about what this could look like for you. What could you do to improve your mood before doing creative work?
Getting the brain fired up before creative work
There is a specific type of exercise that has been shown to increase dopamine in the divergent thinking brain circuit by as much as 65%. This is ideal for “fuelling your brain” for creative work.
This type of exercise is called NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest) or Yoga Nidra. It involves being very still while having your mind wander. I’m not going to go into the specifics here, but it’s very easy and you’ll find plenty of free guided options to try online.
The NSDR exercise is specifically noteworthy because it increases dopamine in the very brain circuit that is responsible for divergent thinking. You can’t get that effect for instance by just taking caffeine, meds or any other substance (this increases the effect of dopamine evenly across all systems in our brain).
I have been doing NSDR before for different reasons (helping me get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night). But I will be trying it now also before engaging in important creative divergent type work (for instance, writing music).
Movement as a catalyst for new ideas
You’ve probably had moments sometimes when a new idea or solution to a problem just seemed to pop in your head seemingly out of nowhere? This usually occurs when you are not actively working and doing something “boring” or repetitive instead – taking a walk for instance.
Certain types of action and patterns of movement are conducive to forming novel ideas. These patterns allow our brain to activate an alternative network of connections that is normally dormant. It opens up new shortcuts and pathways inside our brain which allows us to “connect the dots” in new ways.
Specifically, these patterns of movement include anything that doesn’t require conscious attention on any one specific thing. So things like walking, jogging, swimming and so forth. For me, taking a shower is also one.
Having a dog helps makes sure I’m taking walks too, so maybe consider getting one? 😉
Training the relevant brain networks
There are specific perceptual exercises that will help improve our divergent and convergent thinking abilities on the long run.
These involve two different types of meditation. I prefer Huberman’s way of just calling them perceptual exercises, because the word meditation carries unnecessary connotations and makes it seem difficult to some people (it isn’t).
These exercises are called open monitoring meditation (for divergent thinking) and focused attention meditation (for convergent thinking).
In open monitoring meditation you let your mind wander, where as in focused attention meditation you do your best to focus on one specific thing (like your breath or a dot on the wall).
I wasn’t aware of the effects of these exercises on creativity, but I have actually been doing both of them for a long time (on and off). I’ll make an effort to stick to these habits better now.
Further thoughts
Two other things that greatly affect our ability to carry out creative work:
– Getting enough good quality rest.
– Not being distracted when working.
Life happens, and it’s not always possible to be well rested and undistracted. As an insomniac and a father of a 2-year old I am much too familiar with that.
But optimising those two things as much as possible needs to be a non-negotiable.
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