Develop Your Creativity

Have you ever tried to focus on a creative task only to find that nothing comes?

Creativity doesn’t come with an on/off switch. Still, with the prospect of rigid deadlines, group brainstorm sessions, and the myriad other ways you’re called on to be creative at work, it’s almost expected that you’ll be able to dip into your creative pool whenever necessary.

It may be challenging to draw on your creativity if you cannot focus. Creating routines or rituals can help. In the next chapter, we’ll focus on the physical practices that may help you.

For now, let’s take a look at what mental routines or rituals you can put in place.

Calm Your Brain

It’s a well-known fact that meditation is good at relaxing your mind and body. It can slow your metabolism, relieve anxiety, enhance self-awareness, and improve your ability to focus. Firms such as Google, Shell, and General Mills have all brought meditation into the workplace and seen positive results.

According to research carried out at Leiden University in The Netherlands, there is also some evidence that a particular type of mindfulness may benefit creative thinking. The study revealed that open monitoring meditation might improve participants’ divergent thinking skills (i.e., they could generate lots of ideas in response to a problem). What’s more, the result was the same for both experienced and inexperienced meditators.

In an open monitoring meditation session, you’re encouraged to notice any thoughts and sensations that come up during the process. It’s not about emptying your mind of thoughts or focusing on one specific object or sound as with single-pointed focus meditation. Open monitoring is about noticing what you’re thinking and feeling. 

Here are two examples of open monitoring meditation:

Mindfulness

One of the best-known forms of open-monitoring meditation, mindfulness, prompts you to follow your thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations, and emotions from moment to moment. You are encouraged to focus only on the present, rather than going over the past or imagining the future.

Insight

Originating in India, insight (or vipassana) meditation encourages you to see things as they are. It involves a rigid body and mind focus on whatever is happening as it happens but is different from mindfulness because it also challenges you not to react to those sensations. As a starting point, you’re encouraged to forget what you’ve been taught so you can begin to see things through fresh eyes.

Find somewhere quiet to sit. If you’re seated on a chair, make sure your feet are flat on the floor. Alternatively, sit on the floor with legs crossed or straight out in front of you. If you are seated cross-legged, and your knees are elevated, place cushions beneath them, so your legs can fully relax. You must be comfortable. If you aren’t, you may find it hard to commit to meditation. Allow your hands to rest comfortably on your knees. Close your eyes. You’re ready to begin.

"Meditation apps such as Headspace or Calm have been incredibly helpful to help me take time away from the noise. It's easy with social media to feel like you're constantly missing out, but oftentimes this drains your productivity because you're following someone else's progress and not your own. It also doesn't give your brain that time it needs to digest what's happening." - Ben Hong, senior front-end developer

Focus on Single Tasks

When you’re busy at work, you can often multi-task to feel like you’re getting more done. However, a study at Ohio State University found that although students thought they were more productive when they multi-tasked, they were less productive. In other studies, the more people multi-tasked, the more addicted they became to it.

Take Action

Make a list of the tasks you need to complete, then complete each one before moving onto the next. Give each one your complete attention.

Respond Creatively to Stress

Thirty thousand people were asked a simple question in a study carried out at Wisconsin-Madison University. “Does the perception that stress affects health matter?” Researchers found that people who experienced high-stress levels, but believed stress was good for them, had the lowest mortality rates. 

Instead, be creative in your response to it. When you feel stressed, take time to notice how you feel. Acknowledge that when your heart beats faster, it’s sending even more oxygen around your body; it’s giving you more energy; sharpening your brain function, and helping you focus.

Remind Yourself to Be Here Now

Remembering to be mindful throughout the day can help you find focus when your mind wanders. Set alarms on your phone for every hour of the working day to remind you to be mindful. When it sounds, take a minute to connect with your breath, taking a few long deep breaths to bring yourself back to the present moment and task.

“There is a certain level of Zen in the idea that everything you build is going to be thrown away. Sometimes next week, and if you’re lucky maybe in a year. So, it’s important to develop an attitude that helps you hold your achievements lightly.” - Mahmoud, CTO 

Help Your Mind at Work

While developing a regular mental routine can help your ability to focus, you can use other practical techniques at work.

First, reflect on what causes you to lose focus (i.e., social media, boredom, fatigue, hunger). For example, if you lose focus every time a social media notification chimes, turn off all notifications, then allocate time during the day to check your feeds.

Make a list of all your usual distractions, and next to it, list a solution that can help you avoid it. Here are a few more suggestions:

Make a Disturbance List

Let’s face it; distracting thoughts will crop up! Every time one does, write it down and forget it. Then allocate 15 minutes a day to go through and deal with your disturbance list. 

Work Offline

So much of what we do is online, which means constant engagement: emails ping into your inbox; social media notifications pop up on your screen; ads distract your attention on web pages. All of which eats away at your ability to focus—the answer: disconnect from technology when facing creative tasks.

Pop on Your Headphones

The link between positive mood and creativity is a well-known fact, and listening to music can help you feel more positive. Dubbed the "Mozart effect," studies have shown that background music can temporarily improve your creative focus. However, it had to be music you like, which suggests it should be called the “music you enjoy” effect. 😊

You can also use your headphones as a creative thinking signal. Let colleagues know that wearing them means that you don’t want to be disturbed and that you’re taking time out to think.

"Only heavy metal music works for me, or repetitive music like electro, or video games." - Clara, Head of Code & Design Learning Products at OpenClassrooms

Take Regular Breaks

It’s easy to press on with a task when you have deadlines, but your ability to focus is impaired if get bored. "Our research suggests that, when faced with long tasks, brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task," says Alejandro Lleras from the University of Chicago.

Studies have also shown that allowing time to incubate a problem, allows for unconscious processes that can lead to sudden intuitive solutions to creative problems.

Complete Your Creativity Journal

Do: Try the mindful meditation in the Go Further section above.

Reflect: What was the creative activity you used as a focus? How did you feel at the start? What thoughts about the creative task came to mind? Did it change your thinking about the task? Was it challenging to stay focused or easy? What do you remember most about the meditation? What specific things did you notice? Was it too long? Too short? How did you feel afterward?

Let’s Recap!

• Improving your ability to focus can help with creative tasks.

• Open monitoring meditation can improve divergent thinking skills.

• Taking regular breaks re-invigorates your creativity.

Now you’ve explored techniques to help you focus your mind, you’re ready to explore the ways in which physical activity can nurture your creativity.