Creating space for daydreaming and why having a shower is important work

“What are you thinking about?”  “Nothing.”  That Q&A has no doubt be repeated millions of times, normally part of a comedy line in relation to how female and male brains work.  Male brains ‘compartmentalise’, while female brains connect everything up and remember EVERYTHING.  Or so the jokes go.

I have to admit, I’m a little convinced by that myself…but that could be my experiences and biases talking. 

One of my favourite podcasters, Tim Harford of Cautionary Tales, tells the story of the various people throughout history who have employed a technique he calls ‘slow-motion multi-tasking’. The concept is (in my words), if you get too deep into something you quite often can’t see the wood for the trees.  If you switch your focus, try to let your mind wander, you’ll make new connections and see not just the wood but the whole forest and fauna ecosystem.   

This was a topic of conversation with Jeff Mike, who has always needed a little time to himself to let his mind wander.  And that wandering mind has led him through martial arts to teaching to researching to innovation.  And it emerges in his working days with streams of consciousness that his colleagues have learnt to appreciate!

What’s also interesting is the increasing focus on mindfulness, being ‘in the moment’, that has been such a strong theme in the last few years.  Listening to who is talking, hearing what they’re trying to say verbally and non-verbally, putting yourselves in their shoes and trying to understand different perspectives.  Absolutely.

The problem with being mindful and in the moment, is if you don’t have a moment to yourself, you also don’t have time to not think.  To daydream, to drift. 

And that my friends, is why you should shower every day!  If you’re super busy, and you have no time, every shower is an opportunity for daydreaming, for letting your brain do its brain-thing and make those subconscious connections, forge new pathways, come up with the next idea or the solution to a wicked problem. And bonus, you get clean too.

If you want to hear more from Jeff, you can find his blogs at https://www.flextrack.com/author/jeffadmin/

Martial arts, gig workers and post-pandemic work practices, with Jeff Mike - podcast

The illustration below depicts the journey of the podcast episode with Jeff, have a read. 

Hear my whole conversation with Jeff Mike. 

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