Where to get great ideas
Do you get your best ideas in the shower? Well, there’s actually scientific reasoning that explains why time spent lathering up can prompt a brilliant thought to bubble up.
Zachary Irving, an assistant professor of philosophy and cognitive science at the University of Virginia, has dedicated much of his work to understanding how to induce states of creative mind-wandering. For this to happen, he reports that the mind has to be free enough to meander around, which occurs during moderately engaged activities like taking a shower.
Shower environments check all the boxes for inspired ideas to surface out of nowhere. While scrubbing down, you’re occupied with a familiar routine—washing, shampooing, shaving – all free of outside distractions. The water acts as white noise, and its temperature is similar to that of the body. Experts say this makes for an ideal immersive experience.
John Kourios, co-author of The Eureka Factor, calls creative mind wandering “brain blinks” and states they can happen any time people are engaged in an activity that has “low but not zero demands on the brain.” Activities such as walking the dog, hiking and gardening have the potential to produce brain blinks.
Now the question is how to make sure those brilliant brainstorms don’t get lost while drying off. Surely there’s a “shower solution” for that!