How Your Daily Routine is Ruining Your Creative Thinking

 

While our daily routines, such as grabbing the usual coffee from a local coffee shop, may be comforting, Benedict Carey, author of the new book How We Learn says our routines limit our brain’s ability to build skills and knowledge.

Structure is certainly important, but there are also activities that can help keep the brain operating with a higher level of effectiveness. For instance, just changing up your route to work can help you retain information better.

Carey acknowledges that structure is something built into us from a young age –think, for instance of how traditional schooling gives us a structured 8-hour day. This carries over into other areas of our life, but that rigidity can lead to stifled creativity and make retaining information more difficult.

Here are a few tips to mix up your routine:

1. SPLIT LEARNING TIME IN HALF
Instead of concentrating on something intensely for a long period of time, break it up into smaller segments of time—this will allow you to recall more of that information later.

2. CHANGE YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT

Get out of the office, or even just change settings in your office (go to the break room instead of staying at your desk).

3. DISTRACT YOURSELF

Take the office setting change one step further and take a break with a jog, or calling a friend to chat. This might help give you inspiration or be able to more readily solve a problem.

For more read the rest of the Article http://www.fastcompany.com/3039180/how-your-daily-routine-is-holding-you-ba…

 

Contributed by: Brittnie Simon