How to “provoke” inspiration?
20 October, 2021
Illumination is associated with the accumulation of interneuronal connections in certain areas of the brain.
Inspiration is directly related to the formation of new neural connections in the brain (neuroplasticity). The good news is that neuroplasticity is inherent not only in children, but also in adults. And she can be trained. There are three ways to do this.
- Read. From childhood, we are convinced that reading is beneficial. And indeed it is. In the book, The Brain Sell: When Science Meets Shopping, neuroscientist David Lewis describes research on various methods of stress management. He found that six minutes of reading helped relax the muscles and normalize the heart rate. Reading outpaced such activities as listening to music, drinking tea, and walking in counteracting stress. In addition, reading helps prevent dementia and promotes the formation of new nerve connections, improves brain plasticity.
- Play video games. It may sound strange, but some researchers note that certain video games can increase gray matter, develop imagination, and stimulate creativity.
- Go in for sports. Scientists have found that even simple exercise improves neuroplasticity in certain brain structures.
How do you “provoke” inspiration?
Psychologists advise a simple, but not obvious thing for everyone: do at least something for inspiration. The worst soil for the emergence of lightning-fast ideas is the lack of information. So first get as much data as possible on your topic. Don’t reject bad ideas right away: your brain will also need them as a basis for thinking in the right direction.
- Make the process of writing down ideas easier. When inspiration finally comes, it will be a shame if you don’t have a pen at hand or if you have to search for a “notebook” among many mobile applications for a long time. Make it possible to write down ideas even when you are in bed or on public transport.
- Allow yourself to idle a little. An active lifestyle can make you feel guilty for moments of laziness. But the creative process requires deliberation, not compulsion. So give yourself time to recover.
- Share your own ideas. Even if you don’t need feedback from others in the future, other people’s thoughts can push you to solve a problem or improve your own idea.
- Economist and management consultant Carolyn Webb, in her book Live Your Best, reveals a few more secrets to catch inspiration. She suggests using the method of fixing installations. “If once, while sitting on the windowsill, you managed to work very fruitfully, then the system of neural connections “windowsill”can since then be associated with the system of “productive and focused behavior”. Therefore, every time on the windowsill you may have a surge of energy and a desire to work,” explains the author.
- When you’re at a dead end and the job requires creativity, Webb advises trying to look for a radically opposite approach to solving a problem. A short switch of attention from one task to another will also help. The change in focus will give the brain time to subconsciously process the new data before you return to the main question.
- The “rubber duck” method also helps – explaining the problem to someone who is not familiar with it.
