Task Hop Your Way to Fresh Ideas: Why Focus is Overrated
17 Jul 2023
17 Jul 2023 by Luke Puplett - Founder
The Multitasker's Manifesto
If you want to tap into your creative potential at work, try this counterintuitive strategy - switch between tasks regularly.
Research reveals that continually toggling back and forth between creative assignments can enhance your creative output. In multiple studies, participants who switched between two creative tasks at set intervals came up with more original ideas and solutions than those who worked through tasks one at a time or switched at their own discretion.
This effect occurs because taking periodic breaks from a task helps overcome mental blocks. When you persist on one project for too long, you can get stuck in rigid thinking patterns without realizing it. Stepping away and coming back to it refreshes your cognitive process so you can attack problems from new angles.
Yet most people fail to recognize the creative perks of task switching. When given a choice, individuals opt to plow through assignments serially rather than regularly rotate between them. We instinctively think focusing intently on one thing is optimal. In reality, for creative work, dividing your time is the winning strategy.
So if you have multiple inventive projects or problems on your plate, set reminders to periodically shift your attention from one to another. Even if you feel like you're on a roll, take a short break and revisit it later - you'll likely gain new insights. Avoid waiting until you feel stuck; regular task toggling prevents you from going down mental dead ends in the first place.
But it's not just good for pure creativity; creative problem solving gets a boost, too.
Problem Solving
"The notion that people commonly struggle to conceive creative solutions because they 'fixate,' or fail to abandon inappropriate problem-solving angles, dates back to Luchins’s (1942) Einstellung (i.e., mental set) paradigm."Research paper - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074959781630108X
This quote refers to the concept of "cognitive fixation" - the tendency to stick with familiar ideas or strategies even when better alternatives exist. An example of how this could apply to a software engineer is when debugging a complex codebase.
When trying to identify the root cause of a bug, engineers may fixate on certain plausible explanations based on past experiences and early clues. However, the actual culprit could be something quite different that they fail to consider due to this rigid mindset. Repeatedly testing the same hypotheses without results can be a sign of cognitive fixation.
To break out of this mental rut, engineers should try switching contexts or taking breaks from the task altogether. Stepping away for a while "resets" thinking and allows people to see things from a fresh perspective later. Just as continual task switching between creative problems enhances imagination, taking short breaks from debugging may help trigger that elusive "aha" moment to resolve the bug. Recognizing when one is fixated is key to opening one's mind to more innovative solutions.
Annoying Meeting
This is where that annoyingly-timed meeting could actually provide just the right disruption. While waiting for people to join the meeting or getting coffee afterwards, chat with a colleague about it. Discussing the issue verbally forces you to explain your thought process from scratch and consider new perspectives brought up by others. The back-and-forth of a conversation naturally shifts mental gears. You may not realize when you've become fixated on something until you have to justify and clarify your approach to peers.
The ability to think creatively is a key skill in the modern workplace. Now you know a simple trick to spur imagination and innovation: switch it up!
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