Researchers carried out a series of experiments into the impact of walking on creativity.
The findings were highly encouraging
According to the researchers, “Walking had a large effect on creativity. Most of the participants benefited from walking compared with sitting, and the average increase in creative output was around 60%.“
A note: Walking was found to be beneficial for divergent thinking (creativity related thinking), but not beneficial for convergent thinking which involves coming to a more concrete solution.
In another experiment, 95% of those who walked generated at least one novel high-quality analogy compared with 50% of those who were sitting. Further, 100% of those who walked outdoors generated at least one novel high-quality analogy compared with 50% of those seated indoors.
Conclusion
When you’re looking to unlock more creativity go for a walk - even indoor walks boost your creativity significantly, but outdoor walks take you a step further.
Your One Small Action for Today
3 Quick Steps to Unlock Creativity in a Project
- Write down in a small notebook something you’re looking to generate ideas on
- Go for a walk ideally in a park or a place surrounded by nature. Don’t forget your notebook.
- As you walk, think about possible ideas and pause every few minutes to capture your thoughts
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PS. I have a small personal productivity cohort that I’m going to be launching in January. If you would like to know more, you can express interest here: https://lnkd.in/duGZz6vy
Link to the Report: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xlm-a0036577.pdf
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