FastCompany Magazine

The official Tumblr of Fast Company.

The most creative people have a way of relaxing the inhibiting, self-critical parts of the brain when they’re in the flow of performance. Research shows that a moderate amount of alcohol can do much the same. Drinking decreases your working memory—impairing your ability to focus and hemming in your interest in the things happening around you—and increases your creativity. This is serious. Does drinking beer make you more creative?

The most creative people have a way of relaxing the inhibiting, self-critical parts of the brain when they’re in the flow of performance. Research shows that a moderate amount of alcohol can do much the same. Drinking decreases your working memory—impairing your ability to focus and hemming in your interest in the things happening around you—and increases your creativity.

This is serious. Does drinking beer make you more creative?

How color-coded notes make you a more efficient thinker: Separating “branches” of your map by color stimulates the creative side of your brain, helps you visually separate and recall distinct themes of the stuff you’re working through, and encourages you to map through even boring topics that seem cut-and-dry. “Add a dash of color … and all of a sudden the notes come alive. They are unique, they are unusual, they are memorable and they are more interesting.” More…

How color-coded notes make you a more efficient thinker:

Separating “branches” of your map by color stimulates the creative side of your brain, helps you visually separate and recall distinct themes of the stuff you’re working through, and encourages you to map through even boring topics that seem cut-and-dry.

“Add a dash of color … and all of a sudden the notes come alive. They are unique, they are unusual, they are memorable and they are more interesting.”

More…

  • Charles Dickens was a proponent of strict routine—and walking. He worked from 9.a.m. to 2.p.m, without fail, and needed complete silence. At 2.p.m. he would go for a 3-hour walk and returned, the book notes, bursting with energy and ideas.
  • Maya Angelou likes writing in hotel rooms. She talks about checking into her sparse hotel room and working from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., accompanied by a dictionary, a Bible and a bottle of sherry.

The daily rituals of the world’s most creative people