Time to Write

The simplest, least expensive way to boost your creativity

It's official--a study at my alma mater, Stanford University, showed that walking is a way to increase your creativity.

Great writers have known this all along, of course:

"Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move my thoughts begin to flow." - Henry David Thoreau

Charles Dickens walked about 20 miles a day, partly to relieve the stress of writing, and the people and places he observered often inspired the content of his novels. 

Aristotle taught his students while strolling with them (which led to them being called 'peripatetics').

The Stanford study showed that creativity increased while walking and for a short time afterward. It didn't matter whether the walking took place inside or outside. In one experiment, the walkers had twice as many creative ideas as people sitting down. 

However, walking was not better for the kind of thinking in which you search for one correct answer (in fact, it was mildly worse for that).

But for generating ideas, start walking!

more on the study: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/walking-vs-sitting-042414.html

Take 5 for yourself: Stop & ask 1 question

A series on how to improve your life, 5 minutes at a time.

Today: Stop and ask yourself one question

This is the single best simple time management strategy I've come across: 

Several times a day, stop what you're doing and ask yourself: "Is this the best use of my time right now?"

If it is, congratulations!

If not, figure out what IS the best use of your time at that moment and do it instead.

This is important because it's so easy to get distracted or to pay attention to the urgent rather than the important. Of course the urgent must be done, but is this the best moment to do it? It's not that we don't know what we should be doing, but that it's so easy to forget.

Of course it's also easy to forget to ask yourself this question, so I recommend setting an alarm on your phone or tablet or watch for three times during your work day. When the alarm rings, ask yourself the question and, if necessary, adjust what you're doing. If the alarm would annoy others, set it to vibrate.

Probably you already know the times of the day you tend to get distracted, so schedule the alarms accordingly. 

TIP: If what you're doing is enjoyable but not the right thing at that moment, schedule it as a reward for finishing the thing that IS the best use of your time.

(If you're looking for additional innovative ways to be more productive, get a copy of my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and available from your favorite bookseller.)

5 warning signs if you're looking for a publisher

Creativity Now gets around!

Here's the brand new Thai edition of Creativity Now:

Tell all your Thai friends!

Of course you can also get the English edition from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

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