Can Anywhere Working make you more creative?

By Anywhere Working

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The benefits of Anywhere Working to the environment, your pocket, and your convenience, have  been well explained, but is it possible for Anywhere Working to actually increase your creativity? Based on the findings in the new book Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer, it would appear that it is.

Jonah Lehrer, an author on the connection between psychology, science and the humanities, quells many misconceptions in the book about what it is to be creative. In particular, he dismisses the myth that there are ‘creative types,’ leaving creativity to an elite and selective few. Creativity, he argues, is a set of thought processes, which we are all capable of and can all learn to induce ourselves.

There are two main types of creative problem Lehrer identifies, with each requiring very different approaches to solve them. The first – the moment of insight or ‘eureka moment’ – will come out of the blue, using knowledge you already have, to fix a problem you’ve experienced. The second – the feeling of knowing – happens when, for example, you know something (such as the name of a song), but cannot remember it.

Of the quick ten tips Lehrer highlighted in his Wall Street Journal article ‘How to be Creative,’ five of these are perfectly suited to Anywhere Working.

1. Get groggy. When people are at their least alert, be that morning for night people or vice-versa, they perform far better at creative puzzles (up to 50% in some instances). This naturally suits flexible working, because you’re rarely going to be at this stage in the office: just remember a notepad!
2. Daydream more. Those who daydream more have scored higher in creativity tests across the board. While you can have a quick daydream at work, it’s not the best time to be seen as staring into space. Time this well when anywhere working and you might have a great creative moment.
3. Laugh more. When exposed to a short comedy video, people perform 20% better at solving insight puzzles. In some of the stricter offices, a five-minute break to watch comedy may not be advised, but out of the office…
4. Work outside of the box. The popular think outside the box saying has some scientific grounding, as it turns out those working outside of a typical office confinement perform significantly better at creative tests. 
5. See the world. Those who have greater and more diverse cultural experiences from around the world are more likely to be able to solve classic insight puzzles. While working around the world is a bit of an extreme form of anywhere working, the greater the exposure to any other culture, the better.

It’s welcoming to see Lehrer dispel common creativity myths, especially when the tasks you need to make yourself more creative are so easy to implement, and even easier if you’re anywhere working.

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