We live in a society now where there are constant pulls on our attention - a phone just beeped, a new email just popped up, our child wants us to play, the mailers need to be sent. And I'm sure we've all experienced the need for quiet alone time in order to get creative work done - whether it be writing or brainstorming or choreographing or painting. The ideas won't flow when we constantly being interrupted! And research by Roda, Stojanov, and Kianfar illustrates this... http://ac.aup.fr/~croda/publications/RODA-AAAISpring2013.pdf In their experiment, task switching hindered people's ability to produce on a creativity test.
So when you need to work creatively, turn off your cell phone, close all your browser tabs, and put a do not disturb sign on your door! :-) For employers, make sure that your creative employees have blocks of time where they don't have to go to meetings and won't be walked in on. For parents, if your child is engaged in an activity, let them stay engaged. Converse with them and answer questions if they ask, but otherwise, just watch their creativity flourish.
So when you need to work creatively, turn off your cell phone, close all your browser tabs, and put a do not disturb sign on your door! :-) For employers, make sure that your creative employees have blocks of time where they don't have to go to meetings and won't be walked in on. For parents, if your child is engaged in an activity, let them stay engaged. Converse with them and answer questions if they ask, but otherwise, just watch their creativity flourish.
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