Dopamine, distraction and relaxation equals creativity

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Just thinking through the creative process this morning some as I've been in the thick of it right now at the office. A lot of times I've got these feelings in my gut of anxiousness and excitement a lot as I'm trying to accomplish the work. Since much of what I do is pretty objective there's no simple formula to get the best print ad, video, email, etc.

But, I read a couple interesting articles this morning on creativity that surprised me talking about why our best ideas come when we least expect them NOT when we're the most awake but actually when we're more tired.

When we get to a point that we're tired and have been thinking about something for a while doing something else like exercise, a shower or driving home are good distractions that also increase dopamine in the process and help us relax. During these moments many of our best ideas come and the key is to just be ready to capture them before they're gone. Really interesting article can be found here. Why we have our best ideas in the shower

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