Redefine What’s “Work”

“Do I really have time for a hobby?” If you’re like me, you can read a remarkable post about unremarkable practices of remarkable innovators and think, “That’s all well and good for Claudia Kotchka, and Mervin Kelly, and Einstein, and Joyce Carol Oates. They can afford to garden, or fiddle, or wander up a hill. But me? I’m too busy.”

Nonsense.

The truth is, you haven’t seen diversion as another way to work. And that helps with the whole guilt thing, and the having no time thing. Here’s a multiple choice question: when faced with a vexing problem, which approach yields the best results?

A: Take a break
B: Stay focused and keep working on the problem
C: Do a different, demanding task
D: Do a different, undemanding task

Don’t think about what the “right answer” is — think, for a moment, about what your behavior reveals your answer to be. What do you actually do, and what do you actually value as a legitimate way to solve work problems?

This research by an international group of neuroscientists and psychologists suggests that the answer is D. In their paper, they conclude, “Compared with engaging in a demanding task (C), rest (A), or no break (B), engaging in an undemanding task (D) during an incubation period led to substantial improvements in performance on previously encountered problems… These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving.”

Which is to say, what’s your go-to diversion?

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