Hyperfocus

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1-Page Summary
Most of us believe that the secret to productivity lies in our ability to
manage our time—but in 2018’s Hyperfocus, productivity expert Chris
Bailey presents an alternate hypothesis: The key to becoming the most
productive, creative version of yourself lies not in managing your time
but in managing your attention.
In Hyperfocus, Bailey shares two main methods of deliberately
managing your attention: hyperfocus and scatterfocus (intentional
mind-wandering). When you hyperfocus, you maximize your
productivity. And when you scatterfocus, you maximize your creativity.
In this guide, we’ll first discuss how to determine where your attention
goes most often. Then, we’ll share the five-step process of hyperfocus.
Finally, we’ll describe what intentional mind-wandering is, and how it
can boost your rest and your creativity. Throughout, we’ll compare
Bailey’s strategies to recommendations from other productivity
experts and neuroscientists, noting where they differ and
supplementing Bailey’s strategies as needed.

Before You Hyperfocus: Understanding Where Your

Attention Goes
In order to understand why you need to deliberately manage your
attention, you must first discover how little time you spend deliberately
directing your attention now and what you could accomplish if you did.
To understand the current state of your attention, Bailey recommends
that you first create an attention management matrix.
To create your attention management matrix, sort your tasks into four
quadrants.
 Quadrant 1 contains tasks that are unnecessary, which are tasks
that are both unproductive and unenjoyable—like sorting your
pen drawer.
 Quadrant 2 contains tasks that are distracting, which are
enjoyable but unproductive—like distracting smartphone games.
  Quadrant 3 contains tasks that are necessary, which are
productive but unenjoyable—like filling out medical charts if
you’re a doctor.
 Quadrant 4 is tasks that are meaningful, which are both
productive and enjoyable. These tasks are the very few tasks that
help you fulfill your broader purpose in life—like diagnosing and
treating patients if you’re a doctor.
(Shortform note: Bailey’s attention management matrix echoes a time
management tool known as the Eisenhower matrix. Originally developed
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Eisenhower matrix splits tasks
into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance.)
When you’re finished, review the matrix. You likely spend most of your
time on Quadrant 1 and 2 tasks, which means you’re operating on
autopilot mode: Instead of deliberately directing your attention, you
react automatically to external triggers that pique your interest—
especially if it’s new, potentially dangerous, or gratifying. (Shortform
note: One marketing expert also suggests that you may automatically
react to things based on your personal associations with them.) So when
you’re in autopilot mode, you naturally focus on less valuable tasks.
But when you learn how to deliberately manage your attention, you
can focus more on Quadrant 3 and 4 tasks. (Shortform note: We’ll
return to this in Step 1 of hyperfocus.)

The 5 Steps of Hyperfocus

How do you deliberately manage your attention? Bailey recommends
that you hyperfocus: In hyperfocus, you deliberately direct your
attention to a single task. (Shortform note: Bailey’s description of
hyperfocus is occasionally contradictory. For clarity, we’ve defined
hyperfocus based on what Bailey states is its “most important
aspect”—the fact that you’re focused on a single task.)
Why just one task? Because, as Bailey explains, it fits comfortably in
your working memory, or “attentional space.” Bailey explains that
whenever you do a task, it occupies some portion of your working
memory, which holds information your mind is actively processing.
Your working memory has a limited working memory capacity: You can
only focus on a finite number of things. (Shortform note: Bailey’s
definition of “attentional space” combines definitions of short-term and
working memory, but since neuroscientists don’t agree on the
distinctions between the two terms and Bailey’s main point is that your
attentional space is limited, we’ll refer exclusively to working memory.)
If you try to focus on more than you’re capable of, you’ll crowd
information out of your working memory and forget it. To avoid
this, focus only on what fits in your working memory. And since the
amount of working memory a task takes up depends on how complex
it is, you can fit only one complex task fully in your working memory.
(Shortform note: Research suggests that your working memory capacity
peaks at young adulthood and declines as you age—so if you’re older, you
might not be able to focus on the same complexity of tasks or the
same amount of information as you used to without forgetting it.)
We’ve divided Bailey’s method into the following five-step process:

 Step 0: Choose When to Focus

 Step 1: Choose What to Focus On

 Step 2: Limit and Manage Distractions

 Step 3: Focus for a Set Period

 Step 4: Maintain Your Focus

(Shortform note: Bailey’s method has only four stages, but we added
Step 0 since he also presented several recommendations for what to
do before you begin hyperfocusing.)
Step 0: Choose When to Hyperfocus
To hyperfocus, first plan when and for how long you’ll hyperfocus.
Bailey suggests that choosing how long to focus is simple: Pick a
duration you’re comfortable with and won’t put you off from focusing
tomorrow, since hyperfocus works best as a daily habit. As you get
used to hyperfocusing, you’ll become used to focusing for longer
periods, and the lengths of your hyperfocus sessions will naturally
increase. (Shortform note: If you were running a marathon, you
wouldn’t run 26.2 miles at once; every day, you’d run just a little bit
longer than you did the previous day until you reached a comfortable
rhythm. Treat your cognitive endurance the same way.)
Bailey recommends that you choose when to focus based on your
schedule, your energy levels, and your tasks. Hyperfocus requires both
time and energy, so schedule your hyperfocus sessions when you have
both available—in other words, when you have free time and you feel
energized. (Shortform note: If you have neither, consider exercising
more: Exercise boosts both your energy levels and your productivity—which
might give you more free time.) Alternatively, schedule your hyperfocus
sessions based on the tasks you need to accomplish. If you have a
particularly cognitively demanding task that needs attention, like a
presentation, that's a good time to hyperfocus. (Shortform note:
Improve your estimate of how long your hyperfocus sessions should be
for each task by discovering the percentage by which you underestimate task
length and adjusting accordingly.)
Step 1: Choose What to Focus On
Choosing what to focus on is critical because hyperfocus is most
beneficial when we focus on the right task. According to Bailey, the
quality of the tasks we pay attention to determines the quality of our
lives: When we focus on high-quality tasks, we perform high-quality
work and have high-quality impact. (Shortform note: You might argue
that you can get everything done, but Essentialism argues that you
must set priorities for your own life—if you don’t, others will do so for you.)
So how exactly do you pick the right task? One strategy Bailey
suggests is to hyperfocus on the meaningful tasks from your attention
management matrix. Another is to consider the impact of your tasks:
Focus on tasks that will have the biggest positive impact. To evaluate
this, look at both the task’s immediate and long-term effects—the
long-term effect is the real impact of your task. (Shortform
note: Getting Things Done also recommends choosing your tasks based
on their priority levels, but it takes a bottom-up approach: Focusing on your
low-priority actions first frees your mind to think about what your higher-level
priorities are.)
Bailey also recommends ensuring that you hyperfocus on your most
important tasks by setting three goals each day. When you can select
only three goals for the day, you’re forced to prioritize. When you know
what goals are high-priority, you know what tasks will best support
those goals. These are the tasks most deserving of hyperfocus. You
also learn what is less important, so you learn what not to focus on.
(Shortform note: Setting three priorities might seem impossibly small,
but Essentialism explains that this is a new concept: The word “priority”
only had a singular form until the 1900s, when we started insisting that we
could have many “first'' things.)
Step 2: Limit and Manage Distractions
Step 2a: Limit Distractions
In Step 2a of hyperfocus, you limit distractions—which Bailey defines
as anything that diverts you from the task you defined in Step 1. Bailey
explains that limiting distractions is critical to hyperfocus
because we’re terrible at avoiding distractions if they’re available to
us: If you work on a computer, you get distracted every 40 seconds.
(Shortform note: Your distractibility also increases with age.) One reason is
that we have a “novelty bias”: Whenever you do something new, like
giving in to a distraction, your brain gives you a hit of dopamine—so
getting distracted feels good. (Shortform note: Conversely, making
distractions feel bad should help us avoid them. Consider punishing
yourself every time you get distracted: Humans find the possibility of
avoiding loss (or avoiding punishment) more motivational than potential gain.)
So how, exactly, do you limit distractions? Bailey recommends
that when you encounter a distraction you can’t control, keep your
original purpose in mind so that you can return to it when the
distraction goes away. This should be easy for unenjoyable distractions
—like loud colleagues—but might be more difficult if you enjoy the
distraction. In this case, Bailey recommends letting yourself enjoy the
distraction but urges you to remember your original goal. (Shortform
note: Bailey admits that given his focus on productivity, even the
enjoyable distractions annoy him because he dislikes interruptions to
his schedule. So this suggestion may not be as helpful if you’re more
flexible and already enjoying the distraction.)
(Shortform note: One alternative strategy is to control what you can
about the distraction: Even distractions that initially seem unavoidable
usually have some element you can control. Another option is
to reschedule your hyperfocus session. If, despite your best efforts, an
unavoidable distraction crops up mid-hyperfocus session, adjust your
schedule. That way, you can give your full attention to whoever
interrupts you—and hyperfocus on your initial task at a different time.)
Step 2b: Manage Distractions

What’s the best way to deal with distractions you do have control
over? Bailey explains that the most important element is to deal with
them before you start trying to focus. Bailey implies that your brain
wants to conserve energy, so it resists energy-guzzling hard tasks by
looking for less energy-guzzling stimuli—like an easy smartphone
game. Therefore, Bailey argues, your brain finds
distractions most tempting when you’re resisting a complex task—like
when you start trying to hyperfocus. So deal with distractions before
you start hyperfocusing, when they’re less tempting. (Shortform note:
If you can’t deal with distractions before hyperfocusing, try eating sugar
to re-energize your brain: If your brain is prone to distraction because it
wants to conserve energy, the more energy you have, the less
distractible you should be.)
We’ve listed some of Bailey’s specific strategies below. (Shortform
note: Bailey separates his strategies based on whether you want to
totally avoid distractions during hyperfocus or merely limit them during
regular work sessions. Since both involve limiting distractions—but to
different extents—we’ve combined these strategies into methods for
limiting distractions to the furthest extent possible.)

Track your distractions. Your brain views commitments and tasks you
haven’t yet externalized as threats—so it naturally focuses on them.
(Shortform note: Bailey got this idea from Getting Things Done, which
shares a five-step task management system: Externalizing your tasks is just
Step 1.) Reduce this tendency by writing your potential and actual
distractions down: Before you hyperfocus, write down anything
that could distract you—like incomplete to-dos. While you hyperfocus,
write down any thought that does distract you. By writing them down,
you deal with the perceived threat, so you reduce your mental load
and can focus better. (Shortform
note: Indistractable suggests scheduling 20 minutes each week to reflect on
what distracted you and adjusting your schedule—perhaps by scheduling
time to list your to-dos—accordingly.)
Distance your distractions. As Bailey explains, our brains are
constantly looking for more interesting things to focus on. So make
distractions as inconvenient to access as possible—perhaps by
removing them together by disconnecting from the Internet.
(Shortform note: Distancing your distractions makes accessing them
inconvenient, and making bad habits inconvenient is an oft-cited
strategy for breaking them: Switch also discusses creating change-
supporting spaces that make good behavior easy and undesirable behavior
difficult.)
Delegate. Bailey points out that many of our tools perform similar or
identical tasks—you probably can text on your cell phone and
computer. Bailey argues that this redundancy increases our likelihood
of giving in to a tempting distraction because we’re tempted twice. To
reduce this redundancy, carefully evaluate whether you need the tool
at all. If two of your devices do similar tasks, do you really need both of
them? (Shortform note: Digital Minimalism takes this idea one step
further, recommending that you identify your priorities and discover which
digital tools promote or inhibit these priorities.)
Be more intentional. Since Bailey defines a distraction as something
that diverts you from your original purpose, actions like watching TV
aren’t distractions if you meant to do them in the first place.
(Shortform note: Indistractable makes a similar argument, suggesting
that you schedule every activity—even ones like social media—you do each
day.) Therefore, Bailey recommends being more intentional about
when you do potentially distracting activities—like by scheduling when
you respond to emails. (Shortform note: Indistractable explains
that people are wired to imitate each other: If you wait to respond to an
email, expect not to receive immediate responses, either.) You might
also turn off notifications: Choose when to check your apps instead of
responding to notifications out of habit.
Hyperfocus on the distraction. Emails and meetings can be distracting,
but they’re sometimes essential tasks you must complete. So,
counterintuitively, Bailey recommends hyperfocusing on these
potential distractions. Try hyperfocusing on meetings you can’t get
out of to get the most value from them. (Shortform note: Improve your
ability to focus on tedious meetings by actively looking for drama and
disagreement during them, which may keep you engaged.) He also
recommends hyperfocusing on emails if you have many to respond to.
This strategy is especially effective when combined with scheduling if
your job requires quick responses to emails. (Shortform note: If you’re
inundated by emails, try viewing your inbox as a temporary workspace you
use to sort your emails before dealing with them instead of a storage space.)
Step 3: Use Mindfulness to Improve Focus
In Step 3 of hyperfocus, you focus on your intended task for a set
period. To make this easier, Bailey recommends incorporating two
daily habits: mindfulness and meditation.
To meditate, focus on a single thing and bring your attention back to it
when your mind wanders. Specifically, Bailey recommends focusing on
your breathing for a small duration of time each day.
Conversely, mindfulness is when you pay attention to everything you
experience in a given moment. Bailey recommends picking a simple
daily task and being mindful during it: Notice everything that happens
as you, for example, wash the dishes. (Shortform note: Not everybody
agrees with Bailey’s definitions of meditation and mindfulness: One
expert defines meditation as intentionally doing something good for yourself
and mindfulness as a general awareness of your circumstances.)
Bailey explains that both meditation and mindfulness are good for
hyperfocus because they increase your working memory
capacity. (Shortform note: Bailey also suggests that hyperfocus might
increase your working memory capacity, but he doesn’t delve deeply
into the topic—perhaps because both meditation and mindfulness are
scientifically validated methods for increasing your working memory
capacity, but hyperfocus is not.)
Improving your working memory is important for three reasons:

 The more working memory you have, the more complex the task
you can pay attention to since more complex tasks take up more
working memory. (Shortform note: This may work best if the
complex task is new: The better you get at a complex task, the less
working memory it takes up.)
 The more working memory you have, the less likely a distraction
is to crowd out your original intention—so you remember your
original intention even if you do get distracted and can refocus
your attention faster. (Shortform note: Research suggests that
the opposite may also be true: A working memory deficit is associated
with ADHD, of which one symptom is distractibility.)
 The more working memory you have, the more productive you
are—partly because when you’re focused on a task that doesn’t
totally fill your working memory, you have even more spare
working memory to think about the task so you can make better
decisions about it. (Shortform note: Bailey equates thinking more
about your task with better decisions, but overthinking your task
could prevent you from making any decisions at all.)
Step 4: Maintain Your Focus
In addition to redirecting your attention to your task when you become
distracted, an ability that practicing meditation and mindfulness
improves, a second piece of maintaining focus is to prevent your mind
from wandering. Bailey recommends doing this by matching your tasks
to your skill level and increasing how many high-impact tasks you do.
Match your tasks to your skill level. If your mind wanders a lot as you
focus on various tasks, you might be bored or anxious. Citing Flow,
Bailey explains that boredom occurs when your tasks are too easy, and
stress occurs when your tasks are too difficult. Both are known causes
of mind-wandering. Therefore, excessive mind-wandering may be a
sign that your current job is too easy or too hard. Reduce mind-
wandering by adjusting your daily tasks to your current skill level.
(Shortform note: Even if you find that your job is not matching your
skill level, you don’t have to quit. One Harvard Business Review article
suggests having two careers can make you happier and more fulfilled.)
Increase how many high-impact tasks you do. Hyperfocus improves
your productivity, so you may find yourself with more free time. But if
you’re hyperfocusing and just as busy as you used to be, you might be
unconsciously filling this newfound free time with unimportant tasks or
distractions—and since your mind wanders when you’re unsure if your
current task is the highest-impact option, this lack of important work
might increase how frequently your mind wanders. Therefore, Bailey
suggests evaluating how much time you spend doing lower-impact
tasks. If it’s higher than you like, increase the number of high-impact
tasks on your plate.
(Shortform note: To discover whether you’re filling your time with
unimportant tasks or distractions—and the tasks you should do instead
—regularly recreate the attention management matrix, sorting your
tasks by how productive and enjoyable they are. By doing so, you
ensure you’re maintaining an acceptable level of productivity—and you
always have a list of high-impact tasks to focus on.)

Understanding Intentional Mind-Wandering

In addition to hyperfocusing, Bailey shares another way to deliberately
manage your attention: intentional mind-wandering, or
“scatterfocus.” In scatterfocus, you deliberately leave room in your
working memory to allow your mind to wander. (Shortform note: Bailey
skips the neuroscientific explanation of exactly why your mind
wanders when you give it that space, perhaps because even
neuroscientists don’t agree on how that relationship works.)
Bailey disapproves of mind-wandering when it distracts you from your
original intention. But when you mind-wander intentionally, you can
experience its benefits. Mind-wandering lets us rest and increases our
creativity, which we’ll return to in later sections. Technically, you
experience these benefits during unintentional mind-wandering too,
but Bailey suggests that intentional mind-wandering maximizes these
benefits because you remember what you thought of: If your mind
wanders unintentionally, you might not notice it’s wandered—so you’re
far less likely to remember any useful insights. (Shortform note: Bailey
doesn’t suggest using memorization techniques to remember these
insights—perhaps because you’d likely have to transform the insight into an
easy-to-remember form, which requires focus and could disrupt your
mind-wandering.)
Bailey suggests two main ways to intentionally mind-wander. First, try
a fun, cognitively simple task that takes up little working memory,
leaving the rest of your working memory free to let your mind wander.
Regularly check in to see what you’re thinking about, and keep a pad
of paper on hand to jot down any great ideas. (Shortform note: What
counts as a fun, cognitively simple task? One that Bailey recommends
is walking, which both Charles Darwin and Friedrich Nietzsche regularly did.
On his blog, Bailey also extols the benefits of knitting.)
Secondly, schedule time to record your ideas. Bailey recommends
scheduling two 15-minute blocks each week with just your thoughts
and a notepad. During this time, don’t think about anything in
particular. Instead, write down whatever useful thoughts pop into your
head so you don’t forget them. (Shortform note: To use mind-
wandering as a tool to achieve your long-term goals, read books that
discuss the importance of having long-term goals, like 12 Rules for Life:
Having long-term goals in the back of your mind may trigger mind-
wandering towards actionable to-dos about the future.)
How to Intentionally Mind-Wander for Better Rest
Another major benefit of intentional mind-wandering is that it helps
you rest. When you focus on a task, you regulate your behavior—which
takes a toll on your brain. When you let your mind roam free, you stop
regulating your behavior, so mind-wandering gives your brain a break
and helps you recharge. (Shortform note: Since your brain uses 20% of
your total energy, you might assume that spending more mental
energy regulating your behavior will burn many more calories—
but your brain mostly uses its calories for more basic activities like staying
awake.)
So how, exactly, can you intentionally mind-wander for rest? First,
Bailey recommends that you pick an easy and enjoyable task you can
do at work, since that’s likely where you want to recharge your energy.
(Shortform note: For best results, consider something physical that
gets you away from your desk, like staring out the window or rubbing lotion
into your hands.)
As for when to mind-wander: Bailey recommends regular sessions
throughout your workday to maximize your productivity—but the exact
times depend on individual factors like your workload and energy
levels on a particular day. Bailey recommends two main strategies to
discover your ideal break time:

Experiment. As Bailey explains, it's best to rest when you have low
mental energy. But since regulating your behavior consumes mental
energy, the amount you use every day varies. Generally speaking,
tasks that require more focus use more energy than simple tasks. But
if you hate your job and have to force yourself to do even the simplest
task, you will tire very quickly. So experimenting is the best way to find
the break time that maximizes your productivity. (Shortform note: As
you experiment, keep a journal to track exactly what you do and how it
affects your productivity. As we've seen, our memory is limited, so
relying on it may be a losing strategy.)
Pay attention to when your energy begins to falter. Bailey explains
that, just as we sleep in 90-minute cycles, our mental energy occurs in
90-minute cycles. We feel energized for 90 minutes, then tired for
about 20. As such, Bailey recommends paying attention to your energy
levels throughout the day and resting when they start to decrease.
Specifically, Bailey recommends resting every 90 minutes to take
advantage of this natural rhythm. This natural rhythm Is not as regular
in the afternoon, but Bailey recommends following it anyway for the
sake of consistency. (Shortform note: This energy cycle is biologically
known as your ultradian rhythm, and it's another reason why taking
regular breaks is so important. Research shows that if you power through
dips in energy, your next energy peak isn’t as high as it is when you rest
appropriately.)
How to Intentionally Mind-Wander for More Creativity
A third major benefit of intentional mind-wandering is that it increases
your creativity. This has to do with how learning and creativity work in
the brain: Whenever you encounter a new stimulus, your brain stores
this information in a “dot,” or bit. When you learn, you connect new
bits to related bits you’ve already stored. (Shortform note: This is why
memorization techniques ask you to connect new information to
information you already know: The more connections a bit has in your brain,
the more likely you are to remember it.) Creativity comes when you
connect unrelated bits together—which is why intentional mind-
wandering leads to moments of inspiration: By not focusing on
anything in particular, your brain randomly looks for connections—and
when it connects two unrelated bits, you gain a new, creative insight.
(Shortform note: Creativity isn’t just useful in the arts—one
researcher posits that mind-wandering is so common because it was useful in
ancient times: We found creative solutions that helped us survive thanks to
mind-wandering.)
Strategy #1

So how, exactly, do you intentionally mind-wander for more creativity?

Bailey suggests that the first key is to increase the quality of the
information you encounter: You create bits when you encounter new
information, and you think creatively when you connect those bits in
unexpected ways—so if you increase the quality of your information,
you’ll gain higher-quality bits and have higher-quality ideas. Bailey
argues that the quality of your information depends on how useful it is,
stating that the most useful (and thus highest-quality) information is
accurate, related to your goals, practical, and relevant long-term.
(Shortform note: Although this is a generally applicable rule, rating the
value of information is an extremely subjective process. If you
personally find a piece of information useful, that’s enough. Don’t feel
like information that doesn’t meet all of these criteria can’t be useful.)
Despite this, Bailey doesn’t suggest exclusively taking in high-quality
information: Low-quality information is often fun. (Shortform note:
Lower-quality information like watching TV can also help you relax if you’re
facing a major stressor.) Rather, he recommends that you be more
intentional about the information you take in. To do so, spend a few
weeks asking yourself the following questions before you consume any
information.
 Do I enjoy this? Bailey explains that sometimes, we consume
information out of habit and not because we genuinely enjoy it.
Stop doing this. (Shortform note: If you struggle with this, try the
previous strategies for reducing distractions to help cull the
information you consume.)
 Is this worth finishing? Give yourself permission to walk away
from information that is ultimately not valuable. (Shortform note:
If you’re reluctant to walk away from, say, a TV show because
you’re curious about what happens, Google spoilers.)
 Is this worth my time, focus, and energy? Bailey urges you to vet
any media before you consume it to make sure you
actually want to consume it. (Shortform note: Bailey first
introduces this idea by asking readers if they really want to read
his book—a testament to Bailey’s commitment to his mission.)
 Is this related to what I know already? Bailey explains that you
gain the most creative insights when you connect the ideas that
are the most different. So venturing outside your comfort zone
 and learning new things is key to gaining more creative insights.
(Shortform note: This is true of both topics and creators. In 2020,
many Americans deliberately diversified the media that they
consumed—not by topic but by consuming more media created
by BIPOC.)
 Do I want to do this? Since Bailey defines productivity as
accomplishing your intended goal, relaxation can be productive.
The key? Don't let yourself fall into autopilot mode. To
accomplish this, schedule your relaxation periods in advance and
stick to them. It’s OK to binge-watch a TV show as long as you
decide how many episodes to binge in advance. (Shortform note:
A lot of distractions suck us into long unintended bouts of
relaxation because they autoplay. Turn off this setting—having to
click play again might help you reconsider whether this Is how
you really want to be spending your time.)
Strategy #2

Bailey also suggests that you trigger creative insights by intentionally

mind-wandering due to the Zeigarnik effect. The Zeigarnik effect is
this: We remember things we haven’t yet completed much better than
the things we’ve completed—so our brain continues to work on
problems it hasn’t solved even if we’re not actively working on them.
As you subconsciously work on this problem, your brain encounters
various stimuli, and it connects all of these stimuli to your problem.
Sometimes, the stimulus your brain encounters reminds it of
something else it already knows. It connects this old information (or
the new stimulus, which may itself be the information you were
missing) to your problem—and solves it.

Intentional mind-wandering maximizes the possibility of encountering

the stimulus you need for a creative insight because, when you
perform a fun, easy, task, you maximize the number of stimuli you
encounter: You experience both external stimuli (from doing the task)
and internal stimuli (the thoughts you have as your mind wanders).
The more stimuli you encounter, the more likely you’ll encounter the
one you need.
(Shortform note: Despite the Zeigarnik effect’s popularity in
productivity books, most modern psychology books don’t mention it because
researchers haven’t been able to replicate it reliably.)
For best results, Bailey recommends the following strategies:
Intentionally mind-wander in busy environments. You need new stimuli
to trigger a creative insight, so maximize your chances of having a
burst of inspiration by maximizing the external stimuli you encounter.
Bailey recommends intentionally mind-wandering someplace you’ll
regularly encounter new cues—like a train station or a busy café.
(Shortorm note: If you work from home, expand your weak-tie network
through cross-departmental collaborative projects to increase new
stimuli: Chance comments from “weak ties” can be the source of unexpected
inspiration.)
Manipulate the Zeigarnik effect. One way to manipulate the Zeigarnik
effect is to write down a problem you’re stuck on. Writing down your
problem helps you remember the problem so it stays in the back of
your mind. (Shortform note: This strategy may only work if
you’re handwriting, which improves your memory: Typing doesn’t have the
same effect.) Then, move onto a fun but easy task and let your mind
wander: The Zeigarnik effect will ensure that your brain will try to
connect both the external stimuli (the task) and the internal stimuli
(your thoughts) you encounter to your problem—and the more
connections your brain makes, the more likely it is to make a useful
connection.
(Shortform note: Like Bailey, Barbara Oakley’s A Mind for
Numbers argues that you can switch to diffuse-mode thinking (which is
similar to intentional mind-wandering) to work out a creative solution
to a problem. But Oakley’s technique has one important caveat: She
argues that in order for your mind to best come up with a creative insight, you
can no longer be consciously thinking about the problem—which can take
several hours.)
Sleep on it. You might argue that sleeping is a biological necessity and
doesn’t count as intentional mind-wandering. But Bailey argues that
dreaming is “scatterfocus on steroids,” noting several famous
examples of great ideas humans had in their sleep. (Shortform note:
One he doesn’t mention is Mary Shelley, who dreamt up her gothic classic
Frankenstein during an afternoon nap.) Bailey suggests that dreaming may
trigger creative insights because sleep is so neurally similar to
intentional mind-wandering. Both intentional mind-wandering and
sleep energize us. Random neurons fire both when we sleep and when
we mind-wander intentionally, which leads to breakthrough ideas. Our
brains consolidate information during both brain modes. Our minds
wander to similar areas during both modes, including the past, the
future, and our relationships with other people. However, Bailey admits
that our minds jump much more between these areas when we mind-
wander intentionally. (Shortform note: Why might sleep be so neurally
similar to intentional mind-wandering? Perhaps it’s because dreams
come from activity in the brain’s “default network,” which is most active when
we daydream, too.)
To use sleep to trigger a creative insight, Bailey recommends asking
yourself important questions and going over information you want to
remember just before you go to sleep. He posits that this will cause
your mind to wander around these topics while you sleep—so you
could wake up with a new creative insight. (Shortform note: If you use
this technique, keep a notebook on your nightstand to capture these
insights. After all, most of us forget our dreams as soon as we wake up.
Keeping a dream journal, in general, can also help you learn from your
mistakes.)