Harness Your Environment to Boost Your Creativity

Many knowledge workers are in jobs where creativity is a constant requirement. We need to consistently make offbeat connections, spot patterns, and recombine inspiration into new ideas. Yet many of us work in physical spaces that don’t support that work.

What makes us creative?

I’ve written before about how our brain’s default mode network (DMN), when left unattended, can be the source of inner chatter and downer patterns. However, it can also be a source of creative insight. Scientists are still working to understand exactly how the DMN works, but one hypothesis is that the way it interacts with other networks in our brain is what allows us to generate insights.

Highly creative individuals are using their brains more expansively. In my book, Tracking Wonder, I explore how this state of mental openness leads to more creative breakthroughs—and how we might move from a closed state to one that’s more open and receptive.

One way is through place.

• Natural places

• Urban places

• Novel places

How to make your space more creative

Not everyone has the privilege of being able to walk out of their office building and work in a park for the afternoon, or to travel to Thailand in search of inspiration. But the good news is that when we understand the nuance of why certain environments spark our creativity, we can bring facets of that environment into our workspaces.

Here are some ideas to help you harness that energy in your office.

1. Bring the outdoors in. Tap into the ability of green and blue spaces to activate the DMN with plants, posters, and desktop backgrounds, or immerse yourself in a natural auditory soundscape.

2. Catch the urban buzz. If you enjoy the hum of the city, spark your DMN by filling your office with mementos of urban travels or use an app to recreate the excitement and energy of working in urban coffee shops from all over the world.

3. Seek out new experiences. Keep your DMN on its toes by turning on an international playlist, rotating screensavers of places from around the globe, or exploring new restaurants on lunch break.

What small change can you make to your environment today to ignite your creativity?

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tracking-wonder/202210/harness-your-environment-boost-your-creativity

#Creativity #Environment #Psychology