Daydreaming is normally seen in a wholly negative light, whether we do so in the classroom or at work. New research from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis suggests this negative slant may not be entirely deserved, and that there may actually be some benefits after all. The key appears to be whether it’s driven by professional challenges or not.
“Daydreaming can have significant upsides for one’s tendency to crack difficult challenges in new ways. This, however, presumes that people deeply care about the work they do, what attracted them to the profession in the first place,” the researchers explain. “Daydreaming without this focus has significant downsides, which show up most directly in one’s overall performance ratings.”
The researchers urge us not to confuse daydreaming with either distraction or multitasking. Instead, they believe we should look on daydreaming as a critical mechanism to account for the connection between our creativity and our work. It’s a fundamental method for disconnecting from a specific task, and can significantly boost our creativity.
Day dreaming
The researchers examined two specific types of day dreaming: problem-oriented day dreams, which are loosely connected to the challenges one face each day, and bizarre day dreams, which tend to focus more on improbable possibilities. Such thoughts often involve flights of fancy, but the researchers believe they are not merely escapism.
These day dreams can boost the creativity of the dreamer, but the study suggests this boost only comes when workers gain a real sense of reward from their job, and are psychologically attached to it. If the work is cognitively challenging, yet enjoying and fulfilling nonetheless, day dreams can help to spark our creativity.
The researchers asked a few hundred volunteers to provide a daily diary of the various challenges they faced that day at work, and whether they were likely to let their mind wander at all. They also rated their likelihood of generating new ideas and solutions that day. A second group of volunteers were rated according to their creativity by their supervisors.
The data revealed that people were much more likely to day dream when they were faced with difficult problems or new challenges at work. What’s more, these day dreams appeared to boost the creativity of workers, at least for those that were engaged at work anyway.
Being engaged
It seems as though strong employee engagement is the key, as when employees were engaged in their work, both the problem-oriented and bizarre day dreaming seemed was at worst neutral, but when engagement was not there, day dreaming appeared to significantly compromise performance.
“What this means is that daydreaming can boost creativity but does little to kill it; on the flip side, daydreaming does little to improve overall performance but can significantly reduce it,” the researchers say.
Ultimately, the researchers hope that their findings both help to remove any stigma that may be associated with day dreaming at work, while also underlining the importance of an engaged and motivated workforce.
