21/09/2026
There's a reason your best ideas come to you in the shower.
Cognitive neuroscientist John Kounios at Drexel University has spent years studying this. In the shower, you're cut off from the usual noise of the outside world, there's white noise, limited visual input, and nothing really demanding your attention.
Other researchers studying creativity and the brain, like Roger Beaty and Kalina Christoff, have traced this type of thinking to a specific network. When you're doing a cognitively demanding task that requires you to focus, your brain's executive function systems become more active.
But when your mind is able to wander, the default mode network becomes more active. This includes during rest and passive tasks, and it's where imagination takes hold and new ideas and connections tend to form.
In other words, the moment you stop trying so hard, your brain taps into a really important source of creativity.
This is the network that is most active during daydreaming, rather than during back to back client sessions or note writing. When we're constantly planning and “doing,” there's little room left for the mind to wander.
The shower works because it effectively gives the brain permission to allow your thoughts to drift. A slow walk does the same thing, and so does a repetitive creative task, or driving a familiar route.
Protecting time for being unhurried and unfocussed is one of the most creative things you can do.
Where do your best ideas find you?
