By Allison Henrich, @KnottyAllison

We are all very busy people. We are trying to juggle too many things, and our attention is scattered in a million directions. As a mom of two small kids who is teaching, trying to write three books and keep three research projects with students moving forward, co-chairing a dean search and all the rest, I get it. My default state is distracted.

This scatterbrained existence of multitasking is the enemy of creativity. This is a serious problem if you’re trying to design an exciting new course, solve a research problem, or write a blog post, all of which require an openness to playing with new ideas. How can you be creative if your brain keeps spinning, like a hamster in a wheel, just trying to keep up? 

The answer? Fool yourself into a feeling of spaciousness. Trick yourself into thinking you have all the time in the world and that there’s no pressure to produce a beautiful syllabus/theorem/essay.

“O...K… I think I’m with you... But how do I do that?”

While different techniques will work for different people, here are a few strategies you might try in order to fool yourself into a creative headspace.

1. Make a date with yourself. Put your planning/researching/writing time on your calendar. Block it off. Protect it. This doesn’t have to be a whole day or even a morning. This could be an hour, but make it an hour when your brain tends to be the most energetic. Don’t plan your hour of creative time for the hour after you’ve taught three sections of calculus back-to-back-to-back. If you’re a morning person, make it first thing in the morning, right after you’ve had a strong cup of coffee. If you’re a night owl, set aside an hour after dinner or after the kids go to bed.

2. Go away. If your office is where you play whack-a-mole with emails, field student questions, grade quizzes, and all of the other day-to-day tasks that keep you spinning, try changing the scenery. For me, this means going to the library and finding a quiet spot to work. If you thrive when you’re around other people, maybe it means working at a busy cafe. Changing the space can make it easier to avoid habits that take you out of a creative mindset. (Bonus: You might get a little more exercise in your day, too!)

3. Set an alarm. Let’s say you’ve made a date with yourself just before a department meeting or a class. When you’re trying to come up with new, innovative ways to approach a problem, you don’t want to be checking the clock every five minutes to make sure you’re not late for your next meeting. So, set an alarm. Make sure you’ve given yourself enough mental and physical transition time to get to your next commitment.

4. Eliminate distractions. Cal Newport, author of “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,” talks about the impact of attention hijacking on our ability to focus. The neurobiological studies he cites demonstrate considerable adverse effects of small, temporary distractions on brain function. So, it should be a no-brainer to try and eliminate those. If you’re sitting down to get your mind into a focused, creative space, put your phone on Do Not Disturb. Shut down your email and social media (or at least minimize the browser windows and disable notifications). Support yourself to stay focused so you can think more deeply about your work.

5. Breathe. Ok, so you’ve blocked off your time, found a good work environment (free of Outlook and Twitter notifications) and set your alarm. The problem is that you’re still obsessing over that thing you said in a meeting that might have been taken the wrong way or feeling guilty about the stack of exams that need to be graded. You need a way to break the cycle of swirling thoughts. So, breathe. Soften your gaze and take several slow breaths. Breathe in deeply (don’t count), then breathe out while you slowly count to five. Breathe in (don’t count), then breathe out while you slowly count to five… While you breathe, direct all of your attention to your breath and counting. If another thought arises, gently shoo it away. When you feel centered, you can begin your work.

6. Let go of perfection. When you begin your creative work, if you feel the need to produce a perfect product, you’re not going to be able to play and explore. It’s hard to open up to new possibilities in a frame of mind that values getting everything done to a high standard on the first try. Don’t we try and teach our students to have a growth mindset? Isn’t productive failure a good thing? Then why don’t we apply this same kind of thinking to ourselves? During your creative time, you need to feel free to entertain new ideas. Having this mindset can give you the mental space to become curious and explore, to try out avenues that turn out not to lead anywhere. But maybe those dead ends will give you insight into how to change the way you’re thinking about a problem. Remember that nothing about creative exploration is a waste, so give yourself the space to follow an inspiring idea.

These are strategies that work for me. Are there any that you’d like to try? What else would you add to this list? What helps you to create mental space for creativity?

Allison Henrich is a Professor of Mathematics at Seattle University. She divides her time between math-ing and spending time with her two little ones.