Imagine that on a Thursday afternoon, before leaving work to start your weekend, you are asked to solve two problems that require creative thinking. Do you:
- Spend the first half of your time attempting the first problem and the second half of your time attempting the second
- Alternate between the two problems at a regular, predetermined interval (e.g., switching every five minutes)
- Switch between the problems at your own discretion
If you were like the hundreds of individuals Harvard University researchers polled on this, you’d probably move back and forth between the two issues whenever you saw fit. After all, using this method, you have complete freedom and flexibility to switch tabs from one difficulty to another whenever you get stuck.
However, this strategy may not be the best option if you’re after creative solutions. The research found that the greatest outcomes came from alternating between the two issues at regular, preset intervals; the findings were published in the March edition of Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
Most people in the survey switched at their own discretion; if this strategy doesn’t inspire the most original ideas, why not? Because we often hit a wall without recognizing it while pursuing challenges that call for innovative thoughts. We keep going back to the same unproductive ideas and can’t seem to see when it’s time to move on. When you alternate between two activities at regular intervals, your mind is able to refresh, allowing you to approach each work with new perspectives.
Participants were randomized at random to one of the three methods used in the research. Subjects who were given explicit instructions to alternate between the two tasks at a predetermined interval performed much better than those who switched midway through the allocated time or at their own discretion.
A further research effort looked at the process of coming up with new ideas. All of the questions we asked in this experiment were open-ended and may have any number of possible solutions. The researchers were curious as to whether or not the advantages of taking breaks from an issue applied to other situations that called for creative problem-solving, such as brainstorming.
Again, they invited participants to come up with original ideas for two separate brainstorming exercises by randomly assigning them to one of our three task-switching methods. The majority of participants, like in the previous research, assumed they would do better if they were allowed to alternate between the two forms of idea-generating at will. Again, we discovered that participants who were told to alternate between the two idea-generating activities at regular intervals came up with the most creative solutions.
The problem with the other two methods seems to be that individuals did not notice when inflexible thinking came in. Writing “fresh” thoughts that were extremely similar to the prior one written was more common among participants who didn’t take breaks from the work at regular intervals. They may have had the impression that they were making great strides, but without the frequent switching between tasks that allows for rest and rejuvenation, their actual output was severely constrained.
Studies have shown that task switching improves creativity. For instance, Steven Smith and coworkers discovered that when people were given the task of listing items from two different categories but instructed to switch between them at regular intervals, they came up with more creative ideas than when they were given the task of listing items from one category and then switching to listing items from the other. Brief pauses have also been shown in previous research to boost the number and range of thoughts created. Our results, taken along with those of these other studies, imply that the hectic pace of your everyday work life may help your creativity if it forces you to take a break from a job and refocus your attention.
Taking purposeful pauses to refocus your brain is especially important when you’re working on jobs that call for creative problem-solving. Schedule them at regular intervals; a timer might be useful here. At the sound of the bell, you should move on to something else. Go sidetracked by the need to organize your receipts for reimbursement, check your email, or tidy your desk, but know that you can always get back to what you were doing. Be wary of letting the feeling that you’re “on a roll” keep you from taking risks; you never know whether that feeling is real or imagined. When we don’t take pauses, we’re more likely to come up with ideas that are similar to others, so you may want to consider if your most recent thoughts really provide anything new. Finally, don’t forget to have lunch, and if you need a break, don’t feel bad about it. If you have the time, it could be the smartest thing to do.