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Want to generate more ideas during the brainstorming phase of the design process?

Then there’s a strange pattern amongst the world’s most popular creatives you should know about:

Choreographer George Balanchine did his best work ironing. Margaret Atwood did her best work birdwatching. In a 2016, Rowling came up with Harry Potter because she was bored on a train.

Essentially, the world’s best creatives come up with ideas while doing mundane tasks. And often alone.

This is contrary to what I was taught back in design classes where we were taught that idea generation is most effective together and actively in timed sprints.

Mason Currey, studied hundreds of artists and creatives in his books Daily Rituals and Daily Rituals: Women at Work. The recurring theme was:

“The key to a really good creative process is… spacing out.”

The Science behind it

According to John Kounios, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, the default mode network (DMN) is the part of your brain responsible for ideas that seem to pop into your subconscious.

When you’re bored, your brain lacks external stimuli so it turns inwards to mind-wander using your default mode network to come up with interesting ideas.

Here are some ways to make use of your Default Mode Network:

1. Go for a 8+ min walk during your work hours (location does not matter)

A Stanford study found that walking can significantly boost creative thinking. In the study, participants were asked to take a walk either indoors on a treadmill or outdoors, and then complete a creative thinking test.

The study found that those who went for a 8–16 min walk, either indoors or outdoors, were more creative on a number of metrics than those who remained seated (ex. 60 percent higher creative output).

There are a large number of studies that have found general movement is good for creativity, so if walking isn’t your cup of tea, general movement is what’s key. Oh hey that rhymes.

2. Take a shower

Similarly, showering or lying in bed allow your brain to go into this Default Network Mode and make connections to ideas you may not have otherwise.

Woody Allen says the secret weapon to his creativity is hot showers (relaxing temperature helps DMN), but Tony Robbins swears by cold (improves cardiovascular movement). I’ve been experimenting with showers that leverage both by starting cold and then ending warm.

3. Have a capture systems nearby

Ever have a genius idea in the shower or bed, but then when you get out, you can’t remember it?

Capture systems are a part of the CODE framework for creators (Capture knowledge → Organize it → distill it → express it) popularized by Tiago Forte.

Capture systems are all about having something (whether an app or notepad) to easily log an idea that has popped into your head. The less friction you have in your flow from idea to documenting it, the better.

I personally use apple notes and am going to explore having a waterproof showerpad.

4. Invest in a comfortable chair

It wasn’t until I invested in a chair that gave good back support and is really comfy that I realized how distracting my previous uncomfortable chair was. I’ve found ergonomics can helped me become more focused and get into mind wandering / flow state much more effectively.

5. Steal like an artist (remix)

The message of “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon is that creativity is not about creating something entirely new from scratch, but taking inspiration from the world around us and transforming it into something unique.

Some related quotes I’ve collected speak to this:

• “What is originality? Undetected plagiarism” — William Ralph Inge
• “The only art I’ll ever study is stuff that I can steal from” — David Bowie
• “Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.” — André Gide

The way to “steal” in an ethical way is to remix the original content/design with your unique spin.

6. Consider unplugging from electronics

It’s easy to stick a band-aid on boredom via podcasts, emails, and texts, but resisting a quick fix allows you mind to wander and search for engaging ideas internally instead of externally.

Going back to the story of Rowling, if she had an iPhone on the train, perhaps she might not have flushed out her story for Harry Potter.

7. Get 8+ hours of high quality sleep

Sleep is the ultimate form of “mind wandering.” I really enjoyed the book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams which explains the importance of sleep on almost every aspect of our lives, especially creativity.

During sleep, the body integrates existing and new knowledge together and sometimes bizarre combinations (often why dreams are so weird). But the end result are why you can wake up from a dream with a new idea or the answer to a problem you had going in.

Summary

Creativity is a muscle that can be learned and improved, especially once you know how it really works.

By trying out one of these techniques outlined in this article, you can get out of a creative rut. And by turning them into a habit, you can increase your creativity long-term.

• Increase blood flow: 8+ min walk, cold shower, general exercise
• Mind-wander: unplug from electronics, 8 hours of sleep
• Steal like an artist: getting inspo from multiple sources, colllabs
• Having a capture system: ex notes app or journal.