When do your best ideas come to you?

Mine are either when I'm in the shower, walking in nature or painting.

I'm not alone.

We've all been there, plus there's oodles of research to back it up.

Cognitive Scientist, Scott Barry Kaufman's multinational study found that 72% of people get creative ideas in the shower.

And people reported having "more creative inspiration in their showers than they did at work.”

The World Economic Forum noted in it's Future of Jobs Report 2023 that 73% of leaders rank creative thinking as the top skill required in this rapidly evolving workplace;

"Creative thinking is increasing in importance relative to analytical thinking as workplace tasks become increasingly automated."

This is a phenomenon that we can't ignore.

So if we can't be having showers every couple of hours at work, how could we trigger this in other ways?

First, lets understand why this whole shower thing works...

Understanding the Shower Epiphany

Showers are a safe place with ideal conditions for creativity and idea formation.

Kaufman says it gives us a “dopamine high, relaxed state and distracted mind,”

Dopamine, critical to creativity, is released when we’re relaxed, feeling great, listening to music, doing something with our hands like painting, exercising and yes, taking a shower.

The distraction gives you the “break you need to disengage from a fixation on the ineffective solution” according to one Harvard researcher.

Ideas need to marinate, bake and form before they move forward.

Showers provide that.

The Clash

It's probably very clear to you that there's a huge chasm between the optimum conditions for creativity and the day-to-day working environment.

I'd say overstimulation and schedules crammed with meetings have a lot to answer for!
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Having digested Deloitte's 2024 Human Capital Trends report this week, the golden thread running through it all is;

How do we create an inviting, nurturing workplace that sustains us and makes the most of our humanness?​
💡Of our imaginations
🐈Our curiosity
😊 Our empathy
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The report underlined that 74% of leaders know they need to improve human performance, but only 10% believe they’re nailing it.

So how do we close the gap between knowing it and doing it?
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How do we liberate ourselves from this work frenzy so we can get to the good stuff that's going to really move the dial?

Ideas For Action

Here a two key steps that I believe would change everything, no shower required!

1. Get a grip on meetings. ​
Cull ruthlessly! Information-sharing and status updates should be first to go.
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There are much better ways of communicating data that doesn’t involve your amazing humans being in receive-mode for an hour when they could read it in 5 minutes.

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And for those that remain, be clear on the TYPE of interaction you need your meeting for;
- A decision ​
- To solve a problem​
- To build team relationships

2. Get intentional about how we CHANGE STATES.​
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Sometimes we need to be;
- FOCUSSED for deep work.
- RELAXED for building connections between thoughts and people.
- OPEN to invite new perspectives from others.
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So when people ask me, “Why art-making?”
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This is why.
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It is the fastest way I’ve found to help people “drop in” to these highly valuable states.
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We leave the hustle behind and within minutes we relax, connect and let the conversation and ideas FLOW.
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Carving out space to turn down the noise, connect with our humanness and engage with each other whilst making things with our hands is simple.
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The best things often are.
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“To simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” Hans Hofmann

We're all creative.

It's up to every single one of us to be intentional about making the time and creating the conditions to help us get creative and solve our biggest challenges.

This Week's Painting🖼️

This week I've painted some abstracted flowers, simplified down to their essence.

I really had fun with these and the colours brightened my week in the persistence of the rain we're enduring here in the UK!

You can relax and reflect for a moment by watching me paint here;