Daydreaming. Even the word itself encourages our minds to drift off. In a world where we’ve been conditioned to believe that daydreaming is for the lazy and unproductive, it’s understandable that staring off into space is generally shunned in the working environment. However, recent research indicates daydreaming increases creativity, stimulates working memory and is an essential element for a healthy and satisfying life.
But how can we make the most of our daydreams?
The Power of Constructive Daydreaming
Many of the world’s greatest inventors stumbled upon their ideas while daydreaming. Research into Positive Constructive Daydreaming uncovers the benefits of intentional mind wandering - including surges in creativity during problem solving tasks and enhanced learning through dishabituation (allowing short breaks from daily tasks).
Jobs that are highly creative require a good amount of volitional daydreaming (daydreaming on purpose). This is something we at Wordsmith like to call the “writer’s meditative state.” During this process we tap into the unconscious, stimulating our brains to explore new creative connections that the conscious mind could easily dismiss. Sounds like an excuse to stare at the wall? Just ask the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, who theorized the key to creative writing was learning to control daydreams.
Daydreams: the Missing Link to Productivity
Although productivity isn’t normally associated with wandering minds, recent research has demonstrated that daydreaming – a state in which we spend nearly 50% of our waking hours – actually improves performance on creative tasks.
Daydreaming encourages the brain's executive network to work together with the thought-freeing activity of spontaneous cognition, which clears the cobwebs to promote better memory retention. In addition, a recent study published in Psychological Science found that participants who daydreamed were better at remembering a series of letters hidden in simple math questions.
Far from being a useless productivity killer, daydreaming is now being recognized as a scientifically proven method to improve creativity, solve problems and improve memory. The next time you feel the urge to put your brain on autopilot and stare at the wall for a bit, go ahead! You just might thank yourself later.