“72% of people get their best creative ideas in the shower.” Admittedly, I did first see this stat on the ever-reliable UberFacts Twitter account, so I wasn’t sure what to believe.
I do not fall into the camp of believing that Twitter is a reliable news source. However, after spending a while digging a little deeper, I discovered that it is actually true – and I’ve probably never related to a Tweet more.
It seems I’m not the only one. In fact, there’s a whole Reddit channel dedicated to the subject, where people literally discuss the excellent thoughts they have come up with while washing.
For pure entertainment purposes, I’ll share some of my favourites with you from the past 24 hours: “If your morning coffee includes whipped cream or flavoured syrups, you like dessert for breakfast more than you like coffee,” “by saying ‘without further ado’ you just adoed a little” and “there is no such thing as an ugly duckling. All ducklings are cute.” Some serious food for thought.
As someone who always has their best ideas when the water is flowing over my face, I decided to investigate the science behind why this is happening. At a summit a few years ago, cognitive scientist Barry Kaufman spoke about a study he did which found that most people get creative ideas in the shower. Kaufman described how the study “highlights the importance of relaxation for creative thinking. The relaxing, solitary, and non-judgmental shower environment may afford creative thinking by allowing the mind to wander freely, and causing people to be more open to their inner stream of consciousness and daydreams.”
So, in other words, it’s a state of relaxation that stimulates our thoughts rather than the act of showering itself. That’s why you might find you have good ideas when you’re doing other calming activities, such as reading, exercising, meditating, or just before you go to sleep.
Author Brigid Schulte describes this phenomenon in more detail, writing, “neuroscience is finding that when we are idle, in leisure, our brains are most active. The Default Mode Network lights up, which, like airport hubs, connects parts of our brain that don’t typically communicate. So a stray thought and an image can combine in novel ways to produce novel ideas.”
When asked whether we should set aside time for daydreaming in our daily life, Kaufman answered, “you want to make sure that you make time and room for solitude. That can take lots of forms, like taking a daily stroll to reconfigure your brain and getting off the path you have been working on the past hour or two. It could involve a daydreaming room that locks out the external noise.” I don’t know about you, but a daydreaming room sounds like somewhere I want to spend all of my time.
Even though I’m guilty of listening to music or playing a podcast while I’ll shower, it is one of the rare moments of the day when I can’t pick up my phone at any second, so perhaps locking your phone away for half an hour could have the same effect. You might feel like you’re wasting time, but as Kaufman explains, “strategic slacking is very important because it allows mind wandering, which is where you’re going to get your best insights.”
Whether it’s showering or another activity, the most crucial point Kaufman makes is that you have to shield yourself away from external distractions. “People can be really distracting, especially to introverts who have a very specific work style.” Although it’s difficult when working from home, finding half an hour on your own most certainly has its benefits.
So, next time you find yourself suffering from a creative block, grab a notebook and place it next to the shower, ready for your next flash of inspiration. Who knows, you might just think up an idea to change the world.
