You’ve tried coming up with a solution to that problem in the boardroom, at your desk, in a coffee shop, at the library, and even in your kitchen, but keep coming up empty handed. And then… eureka! You’ve got it! The solution came to you in… the shower.
The shower seems to be a magical zone where you can get clean and generate a seemingly endless number of ideas. And then you grab a towel and… your ideas vanish. (This is why I do all my work in the shower).
When your mind is given the opportunity to roam freely, and is given ample time to do so, the more connections it can make, leading to more ideas and more solutions.
Why is this the case? Why do ideas disappear when you step out of the shower (or don’t seem as feasible), and why do ideas come in an endless stream while you’re in the shower to begin with? As Nick Stockton explains in the article What’s Up With That: Your Best Thinking Seems to Happen in the Shower, aimless engagement during an activity, such as having a shower, or taking a walk or long drive, is a catalyst for free association.
It’s in these activities (which are only mildly active, at best) where you lose track of the environment that surrounds you and start to focus on your internal thoughts—your mind enters what’s called the “default mode network.” These activities are active enough so you don’t get bored, and long enough that you have an uninterrupted stream of thought—so next time someone tells you that you take too long in the shower, just tell them that you’re getting some thinking done.
The free association that results from your mind entering default mode network means that you stop thinking linearly. An idea pops in your head while having a shower about that episode of Friends you watched, you think about how you liked the colour of Chandler’s shirt and tie combination, and then you think, “Hey! That colour works for the room I want to paint!” A thought leads to an unrelated thought, which leads to an unrelated thought, which leads to an idea or a solution.
“As ideas become untethered, they are free to bump up against other ideas they’ve never had the chance to encounter, increasing the likelihood of a useful connection,” says Nick Stockton.
This is why putting pen to paper, or marker to whiteboard, often leads to nowhere—you become too focused on trying to think of a idea or solution that your mind isn’t given the opportunity to begin free association. When your mind is given the opportunity to roam freely, and is given ample time to do so, the more connections it can make, leading to more ideas and more solutions.
Be sure to have a way to capture these thoughts moving forward—record a quick voice memo to yourself on your cell phone next time you’re out for a walk and an idea strikes, for example.
You also shouldn’t force the issue and try to kick your mind into default mode network. If you step in the shower trying to find the solution to a problem you’ll end up thinking linearly. Your mind needs to be given the free space to roam—not pointed in a specific direction.
“Not having an explicit task is the main ingredient for random insights,” said John Kounios, psychologist, to Nick Stockton.
“Once you have a pen and paper there, it’s not really your mind wandering.”