The Power Of MIND WANDERING
Research shows that mind-wandering is an important cognitive process and can lead us to new ideas or innovations.
One way of mind wandering is ‘unguided attention’ where our thoughts meander from one topic to another.
And even though it may appear to be purposeless, our thoughts have a surprising way of wandering to our goals.
It is said that the more we focus on our goals, or work hard to find answers, our brains often miss important information. Wandering helps build a free association thought process that randomly generates memories and imaginative experiences which lead us to new ideas, insights and solutions.
“Don’t confuse this with rumination, during which we are obsessively focused on our distress. Rumination is not mind-wandering at all, but a type of guided attention because the mind resists being distracted from it.”
Additionally, mind wandering is a great way for our brains to relax similar to early stages of sleep.
The fact is that our brains cannot maintain focus and productivity without regular periods of relaxation which is why mind wandering helps.
So, be it a walk or just staring outside a window, the best way to be more productive is to set aside free time each day and each week to just do nothing.
Time to rethink the zoom filled calendar, if we truly want to achieve big things in our careers.