1 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,880 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imbat. I'm an 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my workday. Today's show is another 6 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: mini episode, and what I thought i'd share today is 7 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: some interesting research that I came across in the world 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,199 Speaker 1: of creativity. So last week I was working on my 9 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: fairly regular column that I write for Entrepreneur, and I 10 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: was having to look through a bunch of different journals 11 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:44,599 Speaker 1: to see what are some new and interesting and science 12 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 1: backed hacks that we can all use to simply increase 13 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:51,160 Speaker 1: our creativity. And I found a few really interesting ones 14 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,520 Speaker 1: which I thought I would share today. So the first 15 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: one is about music. So, if you're planning on running 16 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,200 Speaker 1: a rainstorm session or a design thinking workshop, or maybe 17 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 1: you just know that you're going to be sitting at 18 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 1: your work desk this week and you need to work 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: on something creative, think very carefully about the playlist that 20 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: you're bringing in. So some researchers from the Behavioral Science 21 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:24,360 Speaker 1: Institute at Radbound University compare the creative performance of a 22 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: group who listened to happy and upbeat music with a 23 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: group that worked in complete silence, and interestingly, those who 24 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: listened to the happy music produced significantly more creative solutions. 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: So make sure you pop on some positive, upbeat tracks 26 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: on your Spotify playlist for your next workshop or when 27 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: working solo. Maybe maybe you do a bit of an 28 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: eighties flashback. I know, I love my eighties music, and 29 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: that is pretty much the soundtrack I use for every 30 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: single workshop. The next tip involves the great outdoors. So 31 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: if you happen to be suffering from a bit of 32 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,400 Speaker 1: a writer's block or whatever your equivalent is, getting unstart 33 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: can be as simple as going for a wander outside. 34 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology demonstrated that, 35 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: compared to sitting down or walking inside on a treadmill, 36 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,359 Speaker 1: going for a walk outside increase people's ability to produce 37 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,400 Speaker 1: creative solutions to problems. So, if you happen to be 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: planning a meeting or workshop where creative thinking is an 39 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: essential ingredient, rather than just have a standard indoor coffee 40 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: break as most of us do, instruct people to go 41 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,519 Speaker 1: for a walk around the block to improve their creativity 42 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,079 Speaker 1: upon their return. And if you're working solo, building some 43 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:54,799 Speaker 1: regular outdoor walking breaks to maintain creativity. Okay, next up, 44 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: and this is quite an interesting one. I think I 45 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: found this quite surprising. This yes for those who are 46 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: looking for an excuse to take a tea break, So 47 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: thanks to some researchers at Peaking University, you now have one. 48 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:13,079 Speaker 1: So these researchers found that drinking a cup of tea 49 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: as opposed to drinking a cup of water increased creative 50 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: thinking performance. Not only did tea drinkers in the study 51 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: perform better in a task requiring spatial creativity skills, and 52 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: this was measured by building a creation out of blocks, 53 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: but they also performed better than the water drinkers in 54 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: a task requiring the creative use of language. So when 55 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: a teammate catches you taking your eleventh tea break for 56 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: the day, you can just respond by saying you're warming 57 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: up your creative juices really quite literally in fact. Okay, 58 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: I'm going to leave you with one final tip for today, 59 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: which comes from Simone Ritter and her colleagues published in 60 00:03:54,880 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: Frontiers and Psychology, And in this particular study, participants were 61 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: asked to either close or open their eyes while completing 62 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,720 Speaker 1: a creative problem solving task. The research has found that 63 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: those who closed their eyes produced significantly more creative solutions 64 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: than those that had their eyes wide open, and the 65 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: researchers suggested that this inward direction of people's attention was 66 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: key in increasing creativity. So if you've got some creative 67 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: work to do, simply go for a walk in your 68 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:31,560 Speaker 1: local park, come back and make yourself a cup of tea, 69 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: and then sit at your desk and with your eyes closed, 70 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 1: listen to some Cindi Lauper and what's your best ideas below. 71 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: That's it for today's show. Thank you so much for 72 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,279 Speaker 1: joining me. You probably know what I'm going to say 73 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: now if you've listened to this show before, and that is, 74 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,280 Speaker 1: if you're liking the show and you're getting some useful 75 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: stuff out of it, I would be ever so grateful 76 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: if you could leave a little review in iTunes because 77 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 1: it will help more p pop will find the show. 78 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: Oh and if you liked it, maybe tell someone else 79 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: about it that you think could benefit I'll see you 80 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 1: next week. Thanks for listening.