We have all been there. It’s late in the day you’re feeling tired, so your mind begins to wander. New research suggests that daydreaming is totally normal and is actually encouraged to exercise a healthy mind. According to research psychologist Peter Killeen, “Your neurons can fire for a while with the energy they have inside, but not for long: After a dozen seconds, each neuron needs more energy.” If your brain does not have enough energy, your neurons will fire more slowly and your chances of focusing on one thing quickly decrease.
How do we deal with the wandering? One way is to recognize that you have a finite attention window and to structure your workflow to match that same capacity. In other words, to be the most productive and creative it’s best to work in a series of bursts and unplug throughout the workday. By switching tasks we can delay mental fatigue. It’s a way of being creative,” says Killeen. “It’s a way of giving the linear programming, engineering, hard core work in the brain a break.”
What sparked our fire: Creative problem solving completed by creating unique contexts around each problem.
Is this solution enough to combat the addiction to multi-tasking that we already see in millennials?
Enjoy!
-Canopy Team
