Want more good ideas? Take a shower …

Have you ever noticed how some of your best ideas seem to come to you when you're not actively thinking about anything?

Maybe it's in the shower, while driving, or even just staring at the wall. As it turns out, there is science behind this phenomenon.

As someone who has extensively studied innovation - in fact, I wrote my thesis on it at Deakin University - I can tell you that the conscious part of your brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, has limited capacity. This is where your thoughts and decisions are made, but there is a "door bouncer" called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) that restricts the amount of information that comes through to your conscious mind.

While this is necessary to prevent information overload, it also means that there are plenty of ideas, facts, and judgments bubbling away in your unconscious mind that never get a chance to come to the fore.

But when you're in a relaxed state - taking a bath, sitting in a sauna, or just letting your mind wander - these ideas finally have a chance to make themselves known. You had the ideas all along, but they were just being drowned out by the flood of information vying for your attention.

This is why it's so important to allow yourself some idle time. When your mind is in this relaxed state, your RAS is essentially on leave and the ideas that have been waiting in the wings can finally take center stage.

So, if you're looking for your next big idea, try taking a break and allowing your mind to go into idle mode. You never know what you might come up with.

Where do you usually get your best ideas? This is an important question for human resources, leadership, and remote work professionals to consider.

#humanresources #leadership #remotework