--- title: Does Your Mind Wander? Here’s Why That Can Be Your Greatest Asset description: Wandering minds are associated with creativity. Popular wisdom tells you to live in the moment. Huh? So is it better to be unfocused or focused?... canonical: https://time.com/3638955/wandering-mind-asset/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-18T05:01:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:05:34.202Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Does Your Mind Wander? Here’s Why That Can Be Your Greatest Asset og:description: Wandering minds are associated with creativity. Popular wisdom tells you to live in the moment. Huh? So is it better to be unfocused or focused?... og:url: https://time.com/3638955/wandering-mind-asset/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte05ab396786cb500/69876fa4e20a87557ea841e4/thought-bubble.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Thought bubble og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Does Your Mind Wander? Here’s Why That Can Be Your Greatest Asset twitter:description: Wandering minds are associated with creativity. Popular wisdom tells you to live in the moment. Huh? So is it better to be unfocused or focused?... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte05ab396786cb500/69876fa4e20a87557ea841e4/thought-bubble.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Does Your Mind Wander? Here’s Why That Can Be Your Greatest Asset > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=71c745f6-e6b4-42e8-90f4-708c93289552&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Dec 18, 2014 5:01 AM UTC  Thought bubble Thought bubble Getty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Dec 18, 2014 5:01 AM UTC Wandering minds are associated with creativity. Popular wisdom tells you to live in the moment. _Huh?_ So is it better to be unfocused or focused? Let’s look at the research. ## **The Upside of Mind Wandering** You spend up to 8 minutes of every hour daydreaming. Your mind will probably wander for 13% of the time it takes you to read this post. Some of us spend 30-40% of our time daydreaming. Via [The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (and Why They Are So Good For You)](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307719340/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- So why do we do it? It may be a form of problem-solving: --- > “” --- In fact, people whose minds wander a lot are more creative and better problem solvers. Via [100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321821246/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- In [Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594485380/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1594485380&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20), Steven Johnson makes it pretty clear that creativity is messy. Ideas need to be sloshing around or crashing in to one another to produce breakthroughs: * Having multiple hobbies allows your brain to subconsciously compare and contrast problems and solutions, [forming new connections at the margins of each](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-hobbies-the-key-to-creative-breakthroughs). * Similarly, reading multiple books at the same time vs serially lets your brain [juxtapose new ideas and develop new connections](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-it-better-to-do-all-your-reading-for-the-y). * [ADD and bipolar disorder](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-creative-people-more-likely-to-be-crazy) are both associated with greater creativity. When you’re [drunk](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-you-more-creative-when-youre-drunk) or [exhausted](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-you-most-creative-when-were-exhausted) your brain is poised for breakthroughs. Hold on though — this doesn’t mean daydreaming is all good. ## **The Downside of Mind Wandering** As Daniel Gilbert, author of [Stumbling on Happiness](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400077427/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=spacforrent-20), explained in the [Harvard Gazette](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/), a wandering mind is not a happy mind: --- > “” --- And: --- > “” --- And yes, it’s a cause, not an effect: --- > “” --- And recent research shows a wandering mind may be [associated with poor health](http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/%5Fnews/2012/12/05/15681359-your-wandering-mind-is-aging-you), perhaps due to that unhappiness and stress. ## **So What’s The Deal?** A wandering mind takes more in: good and bad. This leads to new ideas. But it can take you up — and it can take you down. Focus doesn’t allow the noise in. But the noise is what allows creativity to spark. **_What you want to do is spend most of your time focused but have rituals that allow your mind to wander on cue._** You have coffee in the morning and get ready to go. You unwind at night to get ready for bed. You already have rituals that put you into a zone, you just may not realize it. What you want to do is use them _deliberately_. This is the secret the pros know. [Michael Jordan was able to do it during games](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/07/what-secret-to-peak-performance-can-we-learn/). And research shows these rituals are powerful for creativity too. Via [The Winner’s Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738214698/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0738214698&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20): --- > “” --- How do _you_ get focused? How do _you_ unwind? Start using these more deliberately and you can make yourself happier as well as more creative when you need to be. **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/12/wandering-mind-path-creative-genius-misery-early-death/)**_._** **Join over 140,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** Related posts: [How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) [6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/) [New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3638955/wandering-mind-asset/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3638955/wandering-mind-asset/"},"headline":"Does Your Mind Wander? Here’s Why That Can Be Your Greatest Asset","datePublished":"2014-12-18T05:01:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:05:34.202Z","description":"Wandering minds are associated with creativity. Popular wisdom tells you to live in the moment. Huh? 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