It’s no secret that your environment can affect your creativity. If you’re sitting at your brightly-lit desk in a chilly office, listening to loud music, and wondering why your next flash of genius isn’t coming to you, try swapping that environment for a warm, softly-lit room. Maybe even put on some moderate ambient noise.
Photo by Jonathan Sloan
As productivity blog Buffer Social explains, different types of environments can affect how our brains work for different tasks. Loud music, bright lights, and a slightly chilly office are all great for keeping your energy up and making you hyper-focused. However, creative insights often come when your brain is allowed to relax and flow freely. To prime yourself to have great ideas, give yourself a comfortably warm space, preferably with less glaring lights, and some soft ambiance.
The environment may not force ideas into your brain, but it does remove the physical distractions that keep taking your mind away from your ideas. For example, the reason you want a warm room isn’t because you can’t have an idea when you’re cold. It’s just that it’s one less thing that’s going to disrupt you:
The problem isn’t just being uncomfortable in cold temperatures, but rather that you are more distracted. If you are feeling cold, you are using a substantial amount of your energy to simply keep warm. Thus, a lot less energy goes towards concentration on creative work.
Everyone has different preferences, of course, so don’t feel like you need to force yourself into a certain workspace that works for someone else. However, if you’re finding it hard to come up with ideas in your cubicle, it may be because the environment you’re in is too irritating to allow your brain to work freely.
How to Optimise Your Environment for Creativity with the Perfect Temperature, Lighting, and Noise Levels [Buffer Social]
Comments
3 responses to “Create A Warm, Low-Light Workspace To Boost Creativity”
My eyes are crying just from seeing a picture of a workspace with CRT’s. God I don’t miss them!
Odd, I find listening to something extreme like Cannibal Corpse makes me more productive, each to their own.
HAHA nothing quite says good morning like a cup of coffee and Barnes shouting about smacking you across the head with a mallet!
I should try this at my work 🙂