What Your Brain Needs to Come Up With Good Ideas

Illustration: Justin Cassano

m not generally good at doing nothing. I’m a time-management and productivity expert, and I also hve five children; I’m almost never idle. But I was recently reminded how sometimes you have to create a little idleness in order to let a new idea in. On a beach trip, I was technically “doing something” as I waded in the waves, but navigating the breakers required very little attention. So my mind wandered — right to a solution for a problem I’d been ruminating on for weeks. There it was in my mind, clearly worded and ready to be typed up.

I’d accidentally created the perfect environment for a great idea. I was engaging in just enough activity to stimulate my brain but not so much that my idea needed to compete with other thoughts.

“Think back to when your most brilliant insight struck you — chances are you weren’t focused on anything,” says Chris Bailey, author of the book Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction. After studying the brain’s default mode, he coined the term “scatterfocus” to describe the act of purposefully letting the mind wander. Doing so “makes us remarkably more creative, and even more productive,” he says.

The key is to build (to literally schedule, if that’s what it takes) a few more idle moments into life — knowing that idleness and getting stuff done aren’t in opposition. Idleness IS getting stuff done.

Idle and lazy mean two different things

“Idle” and “lazy” are two very different concepts, with very little overlap. “Think of it this way — a fisherman is often idle while still at work,” says Celeste Headlee, author of the new book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. “The same is true for a toll booth operator or security guard. Idleness means inactivity, while laziness means reluctance to work. Can a person be idle because they’re lazy? Of course, but a person can be working while idle and active while not working.”

This distinction matters, because purposeful idleness allows for scatterfocus. “In very broad strokes, we do two different kinds of thinking: analytical and insightful,” Headlee says. “Analytical is needed when we’re actively problem-solving or focused on a task. Insightful thinking occurs when we allow our minds to wander. That’s when our brain sifts through the information it’s recently learned, along with memories and impressions, and it starts to make new and surprising connections. Allowing your mind to wander opens up the possibility of innovation and surprise.”

How to let your mind wander

The key is to achieve a state of alert idleness, not sleepy boredom. The trouble with boredom is that we tend to stop prematurely, before gleaning any great insights. Your mind will wander staring at a wall, but few people will stick with that for an hour. A better bet is anything that is habitual and effortless, says Bailey: “Driving, showering, going for a walk, listening to music, or even playing a mindless video game.” This is just enough activity to allow you to keep going.

“Sampling studies suggest that, whenever our mind is wandering, we think about the future around half of the time,” Bailey says. “This is why we plan our entire day in the shower. In fact, one study found that, when our mind is wandering, we think about our goals 14x as often — this lets us work and live more intentionally.”

Unfortunately, few of us use idleness consistently as a tool for generating insights. We tend to distract ourselves when the going gets rough. Rather than continuing to chew on an issue, we pick up our phones, read an email or two, and direct our focus there.

In Do Nothing, Headlee suggests a few approaches for combating this. One is to take up a time-consuming hobby. While you are gluing the shingles on a dollhouse, or weeding your garden, you probably won’t be on the phone. Filling leisure time with something purposeful crowds out scrolling time.

Headlee also suggests: “Drive without calling someone or listening to podcasts. Take a walk without headphones, or without taking your phone at all! You can do it.”

So, to let your mind wander to a great idea, do something, but only do one thing.

I couldn’t look at my phone in the waves. In fact, I left it at my beach rental. With the temptation removed for half a day, I had to be idle. Given the payoff, idleness was a better use of time.