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Take 'Steps' To Dramatically Improve Your Creativity In 2016

This article is more than 8 years old.

Turns out walking turns us into magic-making machines. Being a believer in the collective benefit of creativity, it's in my interest to share with you this creativity tip. It's easy, scientifically proven, and personally tested. Start walking on January 1st and experience 60% more and better ideas. Not just for 2016 but for the rest of your life.

Let's just say there's a reason Steve Jobs was famous for holding walking meetings.

#1: Walking improves divergent thinking.

I know walking sounds like a "stay healthy" or "get fit" message, but it's not. Better health is a fringe benefit of this tip, but not the main benefit.

Stanford University did a study over a year ago on the creative benefits of walking. They isolated all the variables - moving (versus not moving), being moved (versus walking), being inside or outside, walking outside or inside, even walking on a treadmill.

What the study found is that the act of walking in any scenario - inside, outside, treadmill, no treadmill - increases divergent thinking (creativity) by 60%.

Sixty percent!

I have been studying creativity for years and this one activity is by far the most potent I've ever seen in directly improving creativity. My theory as to why it works has to do with our working memory. Working memory helps us filter out the noise of irrelevant information and is great for tasks requiring focus - e.g. doing taxes, putting IKEA furniture together, reading - but is horrible for creativity.

Creativity increases the less we focus, or the less our working memory is filtering thoughts. Put another way, the more we allow seemingly irrelevant information into our thought process, the more "idea collisions," as Steven Johnson puts it, can happen. When we are walking our working memory is occupied with the act of walking. As a result, it is less able to filter out the "noise" in our thought process.

As such, while walking we are liberated to think in more divergent ways. It's like having temporary Attention Deficit Disorder, a condition also proven to increase creativity because of more divergent thinking.

But let's review how to get the most out of these walks.

#2: Dedicate each walk to a particular creative problem.

I have been experimenting with large doses of walking in the last few months. Three miles per day, almost every day of the week. I've lost five pounds, but I couldn't care less because I've gained about thirty ideas. Brand ideas for clients, go-to-market ideas, ideas for Forbes posts (yes, even this one), and even little stuff like Christmas gifts for people.

What I do before each morning walk is dedicate the walk to one creative problem I'm facing. Once I get into a walking rhythm, the ideas start coming pretty rapid fire. It's daydreaming with just enough meta-awareness to avoid oncoming cars.

You'll notice I used the word "dedicate" instead of "focus." Dedicating the walk to a problem simply provides your walk with a flavor, a context, a soundtrack in your mind. We don't want to filter our thoughts, we want to unleash those "idea collisions."

#3: Capture the inspirations on the fly.

Ideas on a walk will be many but they will also be fleeting. When an idea strikes your fancy, you need a way to record it without disrupting your pace.

I bring my iPhone with me and have it opened to the Notes App with a fresh new note ready. When something hits me that I like, I pull out the phone (while continuing to walk), tap on the note, and dictate the idea so I don't lose it.

It's funny, sometimes interesting things happen when I get to my office a couple hours later and review the ideas. Some ideas that I loved at the time I still love and make it to my whiteboard. Some seem a little lame. But some of the ideas, though only a couple hours old, inspire more ideas upon this first review. It's like an idea boomerang - an existing idea gets thrown and a new idea comes back.

I know this is going to sound like an infomercial, but I can honestly say I have not been as productive creatively in years since I started walking three miles per day, dedicating each walk to a creative problem, and seamlessly capturing those ideas on the fly.

Now, for the sake of human progress, if not sales in first quarter 2016, resolve to give walking a try. The enemy of creativity - your working memory - won't stand a chance.

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