Let Your Thoughts Wander and Unleash Your Creativity

I’d define myself as a productivity enthusiast - I enjoy reading non-fiction and improving my efficiency. I am a big believer that we at least need some stress (I am talking about the positive form of stress) to reach peak productivity.

But can you be too productive?

Aristotle once said that having too much of a good thing or too little of it can cause problems.

Photo by Luca Baggio on Unsplash

We cannot be productive all the time

In the niche of productivity, we are constantly flooded with new strategies on how to be productive and how to utilize even the tiniest gaps in our schedule to get things done.

And then, if we are not doing something productive, we are shooting with content to our brain: browsing Instagram, reading posts on Medium, and listening to audiobooks, …

There are very few times when we just exist - where we are on the borderline of being bored. But I think we need these moments to be creative!

How I experienced the power of “Letting My Thoughts Wander”

I commute about 2 hours a day.

Two years ago I discovered audiobooks for myself. They’re perfect for when I’m commuting.

Driving the same route every day doesn’t take much mental effort, so I can use that time to listen to interesting non-fiction books and learn something new. I also use voice dictation to take notes, which helps me capture the important parts and support my retention process.

So in a week, my commute sums up to 10 hours; this would be roughly 1 audiobook per week. However, usually I listen to 1-2 books per month. Why is this the case?

There are these stressful days at work when I get in my car in the evening and think: that even listening to an audiobook is too much today. Then I often find myself just listening to music and letting my thoughts wander.

Interestingly, it’s often at these moments that I have the most creative ideas. The first 10-20 minutes pass in quiet reflection of the day, but after one or two thought spirals I start to think ahead: my thoughts start to wander.

There, I get the first idea, followed by a second one, and then an extra thought related to the first one. Thankfully, I can rely on voice dictation to record my ideas.

Let your thoughts wander

To me, a good strategy to let my thoughts wander is driving my car and listening to music.

But why is that?

For me, it all comes down to two things: (i) commuting is simple (I’m doing something, but it’s not hard), and (ii) my mind gets new information (feeling the steering wheel while driving, hearing sounds, seeing different scenery, …).

Don’t just sit there and start to think, do a simple task (repetitive, familiar, and with minimal mental effort) instead.

Strategies you can get your thoughts to wander

Take some time

Before you can let your thoughts wander, you need to offload the open thoughts circling in the mind throughout the day initially.

These are the thoughts that we have been too busy to address. They require appropriate time. Take the necessary time to allow them to circulate for a while.

For me, it usually takes about 10-20 minutes.

Do a simple task

Here’s the key thing: You should have a simple task to do. Just sitting, standing, or lying quietly in a room isn’t challenging enough.

But your activity shouldn’t be too challenging too. If you are doing something hard (even if it is only physical), your mind can’t handle complex thoughts.

It’s better if the activity is something we already know well - something we’ve done lots of times before. New simple tasks (e.g. driving a new route) can still be too hard for us.

What counts as a simple activity varies from person to person. Some common examples are:

• Taking a walk: Walking helps us think. This is nothing new. Many great thinkers from history, like Aristotle, Darwin, and Nietzsche, liked walking to help them think better.
• Drawing: Expressing yourself through art can be a therapeutic way to let your mind wander and explore new ideas. This even works if you just scribble what comes to your mind.
• Commuting by car: If you drive the same route every day it becomes a routine. But driving always requires some attention, even if you don’t have to actively think about it. Personally, I find that commuting works well for getting my thoughts to wander.
• Ironing: If you have at least some experience in ironing, it can be considered a relatively simple task. Furthermore, the rhythmic motion of the body can help to free up your mind and create a state conducive to daydreaming, problem-solving, or creative thinking.
• Gardening: Nature can enhance the ability to free your mind - this might be a reason why taking a walk can be so powerful. Furthermore, many gardening activities, such as weeding or watering can be considered repetitive. Hence, freeing up mental space to let your thoughts wander.

Listening to music

Listening to music could be a simple task on its own as well.

But what’s special about it is that you can combine it with any of the other activities we talked about. This can make it even easier for your mind to wander and for you to think freely.

If music can support our thinking, depends on our personal preferences and the type of music.

For me, it helps if the music I am listening to doesn’t have any vocals (or at least vocals that I cannot understand). This could be:

• Lofi Hip Hop
• Metal with distorted voices
• French Rap
• Japanese Punk
• Lowkey Tech
• Nature sounds

It doesn’t even have to be calming music (at least Japanese Punk and Metal aren’t), but it has to align with the current mood. Furthermore, it is important that the texts, if there are any, are in a language you don’t understand. If you do understand the texts, your brain wants to decode and interpret them which could take too much mental capacity.

Capture your ideas

When your thoughts are wandering, you will most likely have some novel ideas. Let them circle a bit, but ensure to capture them before moving on.

Don’t write down all your thoughts, just ensure that you capture the essence so you can remember the thought later on. Writing is not an option (for me commuting by car it isn’t). Then you could use the power of technology and create a voice memo, or capture a note with a voice assistant.

You can post-process your notes later on.

Your job right now is to free your thoughts.

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Thank you for reading! For this article, I’ve mostly used my personal experiences how I get my thoughts to wander and unleash my creative potential.