Why Are Focus and Unfocus Crucial for Creativity?
Ambiguity may be incompatible with many design techniques, as well as with creative activity in general. However, if you know how to handle it, uncertainty may really help you get the most out of any creative process. Knowing when to focus and when to unfocus is part of that navigation. Focus is essential, for example, when your creative task necessitates making several judgments in a short amount of time. It’s time to unfocus if you’ve been looking at a screen for too long. Both focus and unfocus are essential for creative teams, thus learning to practice both is essential.
Focus. Unfocus.
For almost 500 years, she has spurred conspiracy theories, sparked intense debate over her origins, and inspired countless souvenirs bearing her name. In 1852, her picture inspired artist Luc Maspero to jump from the fourth floor of a Parisian hotel, leaving a message that allegedly said, “For years I have battled hopelessly with her grin. “I’d rather die.”
All of this for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, a 1’9″ by 2’6″ oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci that is kept at the Louvre. Journalist John Lichfield described it as “the world’s most visited, written about, sung about, and parodied work of art.”
Michael J. Gelb argues in How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci that da Vinci used a technique called sfumato to paint the Mona Lisa, which resulted in figures “without boundaries or limits, in the manner of smoke or outside the focal plane.” Sfumato literally means “turned to mist” or “up in smoke” in Italian. It refers to the dreamy, misty impression achieved in a painting by small brushstrokes and veils of paint that obscure the margins of subjects. It’s as if you’re gazing through a misty glass instead of clean, crisp lines.
The Mona Lisa is a textbook example of sfumato, yet it is most known for the subject’s enigmatic smile. Sandra Blakeslee stated in a New York Times story on this smile, “First she is smiling. The smile then disappears. A second later, the smile reappears, only to go again. “What’s the deal with this lady’s face?”
We used to believe that the painting’s allure was due to the mystery of the woman’s gaze. What did she have her gaze fixed on? Was she beaming at someone? Or perhaps a lover?
Today, there is another, more concrete explanation. Dr. Margaret Livingstone, a Harvard neuroscientist and authority on visual processing, points out that the mysterious smile “comes and goes because of how the human visual system is designed, not because the expression is ambiguous.” She says the human eye has two distinct regions for seeing the world: a peripheral area where we see black and white, motion, and shadows and a central area where we see color and pick out details.
When you stare at Mona Lisa’s eyes directly, her lips is in your peripheral view. Because your peripheral vision is more interested in shadows than details, the shadows from her cheeks are prioritized. These shadows are bent in such a manner that your brain interprets her smile. When you gaze straight at her lips, though, your peripheral vision does not pick up on the shadows, thus you cannot interpret a grin. “You’ll never be able to capture her grin by staring at her mouth,” says Dr. Livingstone.
As you wander your gaze across Mona Lisa’s face, you’ll see a flickering quality—a calm grin here, then gone. The smile remains constant. Your concentration does.
When we adjust our focus, we perceive things differently in more ways than one. “The brain performs efficiently when it toggles between attention and unfocus,” says Dr. Srini Pillay, a psychiatrist and brain researcher, which helps build resilience and improve creativity.
Da Vinci embodies this. As Gelb writes, “This ability to embrace uncertainty by ‘blurring the edges’ and to hold opposites in tension was not only characteristic of his painting, but of his life.” Periods of rest and work across many different disciplines allowed da Vinci to return recharged, refreshed, and ready to focus.
Both focus and unfocus are essential, and our profession requires us to master both. The ability to focus and unfocus our attention in the face of uncertainty is a vital secret to unlocking creative potential. Reality shifts on the outskirts.
Focus.
Spend less attention on frivolous matters.
Unending options and decisions continuously demand and deplete our attention. Making quicker judgments on little, insignificant issues frees up our time and attention.
Isn't it true that it's easier said than done?
Finishing insignificant activities is quite satisfying. For example, you may need to concentrate on your portfolio, but before you know it, you've spent an hour revising your biography or Googling various Poodle mixes. There's most likely a live broadcast of Golden Doodle pups on the internet right now.
"Unimportant things have a horrible propensity of taking up more time than they should," writes writer and emotions expert Dr. Alice Boyes. We also pay greater attention to them. According to a 2018 research by Meng Zhu, Yang Yang, and Christopher K. Hsee, individuals prefer to do urgent activities (defined as "jobs with limited completion windows" and "more immediate and predictable payoffs") over significant tasks (defined as "tasks with greater consequences" and "far distant objectives"). This indicates that you complete low-importance, time-sensitive chores (such as invoicing or sorting your sticky notes by size and color), but you haven't pursued larger, more ethereal ambitions (like changing careers or tackling your crippling phobia of improv).
Focus is essential for dealing with ambiguity because it keeps you calm in the face of the unknown. It is easy to become sidetracked and overwhelmed by the abundance of options and selections available. Limit yourself to only making the most crucial movements, or set a time limit for yourself to spend in la-la land. Do everything it takes (within reason) to keep your concentration.
Unfocus.
Downtime has an advantage.
Dr. Margaret Livingstone had an epiphany regarding the Mona Lisa grin, as you may recall. This epiphany came on her bike ride home from the museum, not while she was standing in front of the picture. This is a common occurrence—creative individuals appear to get their finest ideas in unexpected settings, such as the shower or when looking at a lava lamp.
Many businesses want to foster a culture of "nonstop innovation," yet invention requires a fair dose of unfocus from our overly planned work and lives. Being unfocused is not the same as being distracted. Your brain requires a "vacation," yet it continues to tackle issues. Some of our most innovative ideas have emerged from this deliberate yet imprecise position.
Do mostly nothing.
Dr. Srini Pillay says, “When you unfocus, you engage a brain circuit called the ‘default mode network,’” or DMN. He reports that this circuit uses a whopping 20 percent of our body’s energy, whereas intense concentration (like doing a calculus problem or reading Simone de Beauvoir) requires only an additional 5 percent. “The DMN needs this energy because it is doing anything but resting. Under the brain’s conscious radar, it activates old memories, goes back and forth between the past, present, and future, and recombines different ideas.”
“Do Mostly Nothing,” according to Pillay, is a useful mnemonic for memorizing the DMN. To be more specific, doing essentially nothing frequently entails doing a little bit else. Driving, watching water boil, caressing an animal, swinging, pulling someone on a swing, people-watching, going for a run, gazing at art, or anything else that doesn’t need too much mental effort. Clean the oven. Clean up your desk. Paint a room. Allow your thoughts to wander away from the problem you’re attempting to solve.
Give yourself a break.
Gelb recalls how, when working on The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci would spend days at a time on a scaffold, painting constantly all day. Then, without warning, he would vanish for a half-day or longer. To optimize his creativity, Da Vinci learnt to follow a pattern of intense attention and relaxation. He was energized by sharing and debating ideas with people, but he also need alone time for creative thoughts to emerge. “It is well that you should often leave off work and take a little rest since when you come back you are a better judgment,” da Vinci said in his Treatise on Painting. We naturally recover the brain’s attention, motivation, productivity, creativity, and performance when we relieve cerebral congestion with a little break.
Call it something that accurately represents its worth.
What words do you use to describe unfocused time? Do you refer to it as a “break” or a “energy boost”? The manner in which you allude to it may assist you in making your case for yourself and your business.
Finish the day with a thought or inquiry.
Instead of concluding the day with a specific deliverable, which offers a lovely sense of closure and completion, consider ending the day with questions. Think on the problem you’re attempting to solve for a few minutes before going to bed. Allow yourself to let go of expectations and allow those questions simmer as you sleep.