#focused thinking

This post is a response to a question posed in its full format as follows: “Distraction is a barrier to critical thinking. What is an example of a situation where you have or might in the future encounter the barrier of distractions?” Referring to distraction as a “barrier” is a misnomer because critical thinking relies on focused effort, while distraction is a dilution in focus. It would be…

I mentioned the other day how I begin projects by investing my time in sustained script reading, trying to understand the written word and its intentions first.

It's a process that doesn't happen at a computer. I don't read PDFs on screen. Any screen. I actually read hard copy, printed to paper I hold in my hands.

I read and study it in our living room, on our balcony, or down by the lake. I do that in order to allow my brain to focus only on the words and their meaning.

Nothing else.

It's a part of my creative process that has to be walled off from other parts. The process simply works better that way.

Now, if you're one of those people who can get results across all aspects of your job at the same location... good on ya.

But if it's a struggle, or if you're wondering if there's a better way... 

Lemme start by pointing out that our brains are sensitive to physical place. It can actually create a kind of mental rut that, if you do admin in your office most of the time, for example... your brain gets kind of optimized for it in that place. Which can make it challenging to attempt mental tasks of different natures.

Like writing.

Like creating.

Like considering and juxtaposing and iterating possibilities.

You might find your efforts sluggish in a way. Which can be frustrating. Which may be cause to believe you need to concentrate harder.

But.

You would be wrong.

For the blank canvas part of the creative process, the very first second of it, you don't need to focus more...

You need to focus less.

You need your thoughts to meander inside your conscious and subconscious brain. You need your thoughts to do some magic in there. Which isn't about focus.

A friend of mine is a magnificent songwriter who always starts with the music. Then, when it comes time to conjure the lyrics, he tries to do that in the studio as well. Right where he's been creating the music on his guitar.

Only that process doesn’t work. And no lyrics are forthcoming from his brain.

So we talked about that for a bit. We talked about when it's time to work on lyrics, hang up the guitar, leave the studio and go to what's gonna be his writing place... and begin the process of writing. See what happens. Create both a mental and physical space that separates music writing from lyric writing. I told him to record a rough track of the music for playback in the writing space. All of which I thought was great advice, if I do say so myself.

Only...

Yeah. It didn’t work. As in following my advice produced no better results than if he remained in his studio strumming his guitar trying to force lyrics out of his head.

So yeah.

No bueno.

Later, we were off on a random conversation about meditation and how my friend had taken it up. 

BAM. 

The idea hits me.

So I tell my friend that when it comes time to write lyrics, hang up the guitar and go to wherever it is he does meditation. And meditate.

See what happens.

And you know what?

Words began to flow in that mental space of meditation. Seriously flow.

It was a helluva thing.

And a reminder that the key that unlocks productive creativity is different by degrees for all of us. The trick is to know where you are in the creative process and engage the kind of experience necessary to that process.

So if diffuse thinking is required and you’re not allowing for that in your creative space... then that is sufficient explanation for why whatever it is you need to flow doesn’t flow.

So first things first.

Healthy Creativity is a set of practices that fosters our best creative work. Even under time constraints. Even under pressure.

And so far all I’ve got for a name’s Healthy Creativity. Not super sex... but it is on the nose. Think of athletes training and it gets even more on the nose.

Here are the practices of Healthy Creativity so far…

1. Be strategic in how you use the time you have… rather than allow your creativity to be bullied by a clock that’s ticking down.

2. Exercise your creative muscles both inside and outside paid projects.

3. Come to your work prepared.

4. Bring your mental and physical best.

5. No multitasking.

Which lands us on number six today which is:

Some creativity doesn’t look or feel like creativity... but it is creativity.

What I’m talking about is Diffuse Thinking.

What I’m actually talking about is this:

Taking a shower, going for a walk or a run,  mowing the lawn, vacuuming the rugs...

That kind of thing.

That kind of thing?

Sure.

Basically anything that's a physical process that doesn't take up bandwidth. They are all... part of the creative process. Because when those conditions are met, our brains slip in what's called Diffuse Thinking. We mentally process and make connections in a way we don't when we're focused. The stereotypical experience being finding inspiration in the shower. It's not the shower that's magical, it's the type of thinking that, if not magical, certainly offers more discovery.

So.

When the creative process comes to a standstill or when it's seriously challenged, if you're at work... take a break.

Go for a walk.

But if you're at home, you know...

Go ahead and fire up the shower.

Diffuse mode thinking happens when you relax your attention and let your mind wander, as when taking a walk or daydreaming, synthesising knowledge and forming new connections. Tackling a problem in the focused mode gives us an understanding of its parameters, allowing the diffuse mode to work on different combinations within those boundaries when we relax. 

So yesterday I woke up with a particular solution to a creative problem. It was an absolute gift of a thought that I toyed with at the start of my day and, eventually, an experience about which I briefly wrote.

So there it is: my waking brain handed the ball to me and I consciously ran with it.

This being the morning, of course, required the traditional shower... during which my brain actually handed a different ball to me about another project that’s months ahead of me. Not only that, this one wasn’t about editing and design, it was about music. It was about how to turn what will essentially be a stinger cut of music for a show’s 10-12 second open... into something more substantial based on what happens editorially between that open and the first host on-camera. Which, because that would be a standard part of each show, gave me an idea about the construction of each show’s ending.

NOTE TO SELF: talk to the producer about this.

Later, I wondered about how this all actually works and, with a little bit of image Googling and Bing-ing, I came up with the following explanations of what’s going on...

Mental Cool Down, a Must

Our work ethic needs an overhaul. We push ourselves to exhaustion. Part of the reason we do this is because we cling to old ideas. We think a mental cool down with off time as goofing off. It’s not. In fact, it’s essential.

Sometimes, old school is right. Retro furniture or a re-tooled video game is fun and cool. But, thinking we have to push until we get a solution or finish a project stacks the…