Some fascinating (and creative!) ideas; much to reflect on.
I wonder about the nap research. As a sleep specialist, I've followed the literature on naps for some time. My understanding has been there are two good options, and one to avoid.
The research I've seen indicates that naps that run longer than 30 minutes but less than an hour may result in a brief period of Delta wave sleep, which can leave one quite groggy and disoriented upon awakening.
Naps involving REM sleep being positive makes sense to me. However, there are two other positive possibilities:
I'm guessing the research on the lack of benefits of non-REM rest was done with subjects who had little if any experience practicing contemplative disciplines like yoga nidra, mindfulness, contemplative prayer, etc. The Yoga nidra research I've seen, dating back as long as 50 years, is consistent in showing that very mindful (but gentle!) practice of 10-20 minutes of yoga nidra during the day yields immense benefits, not only physiological but in terms of creativity as well. Here's one example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187124000385
Here's a fascinating thing about taking brief breaks I just learned.
Jan (my wife) and I opened an online community a few months ago with the primary aim being supporting people in establishing a stable and inspiring practice of effortless mindfulness. We learned very quickly what you're writing about in this post - that folks feel that they simply have no time to meditate (of course, this includes the millions who spend 2-4 hours nightly watching Netflix or other streaming platforms)
So after a month or so, we switched to "brief pauses" - lasting from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. People really had no excuse to keep them from finding this little bit of time.
But in the course of sharing this with others, I came across the work of Dr. Eli Susman, a psychologist who has done research in the area of micro practices. his research shows that as little as 20 seconds (!!!) of a focused, intentional practice is MORE beneficial than 20 minutes of the typical mind wandering, day dreaming "meditation" session so many practice.
Anyway, apologies for the unusual length of this comment and please - continue reminding us of the need to pause!!! Our creativity and our lives may depend on it.
Thanks Julie. Actually, I was surprised in both of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT I) certifications I got that the facilitators were solidly "against" naps for people with chronic insomnia. So I made a point of looking at the distinctions that have been made in various research studies. If you do not know "how" to nap, it's true, naps are likely to reduce "sleep hunger" and make it harder for an insomniac to improve their overall sleep.
On the other hand, the research I've seen establishes that someone with some experience with yoga nidra or other more conscious forms of resting can actually significantly reduce insomnia symptoms, because they're basically practicing a skill which is absolutely necessary for good sleep. The beauty of it also is even if you don't have a diagnosis of insomnia and you think you sleep well, learning these napping skills and yoga nidra in general has been shown by research to deepen stage 3 sleep and to help you get more out of REM sleep as well!
Thanks for writing. This morning I was writing about how we avoid making decisions or doing things because we want to control the outcomes. An impossibility of course when we aren't the only input affecting the formula. But an illusion the ego attaches itself to nonetheless.
I just read Our Obsession with Efficiency Is Killing Creativity by Dr. Julie Fratantoni, and it hit a nerve.
She writes that creativity needs three things: risk, safety, and rest. And that last one REST feels like the piece we keep "forgetting" in edtech. And I say forgetting because I don't think they try to leave it out... or at least I really hope not.
In my world, there’s constant talk about fostering creativity: building platforms that reward experimentation, gamifying risk-taking, creating safe virtual spaces for collaboration.
But rest? That’s where the conversation thins out. I see this often when listening to teams or people that design learning environments. Everyone wants to optimise for shorter lessons, faster feedback, smarter dashboards. Even when they talk about slowing down, it’s often another efficiency play: “We’ve found two-hour learning windows improve outcomes.” And they do. Its really interesting when you look at the stats.
But there’s an irony here. Many edtech companies were founded to counter traditional schooling - the pressure, the pace, the over-standardisation. Yet, in the race to make learning more efficient, do they risk recreating the very systems they set out to disrupt?
Dr. Fratantoni’s argument felt like a quiet warning to me: If we optimise creativity too tightly, we starve it of oxygen. Brains (and learners) need unmeasured time to wander, rest, and make new connections.
Maybe the real innovation in edtech isn’t about faster learning, but about building systems that feed back into our rest systems too?
that irony about edtech is the same one i see in the creator economy. you start making things to escape the system, and then the tools you use to share them gradually turn you into the system. the metrics reshape the goal without anyone deciding to change it.
That’s such an interesting parallel, and thank you for sharing!
I’m not sure it’s the tools themselves that turn you into the system though maybe in the creator economy they can feel that way). I think we’re circling the same thing. People design these tools. And people bake certain metrics into them, like growth, engagement, efficiency, and revenue. Those choices aren’t neutral.
The tools then amplify whatever they’re built to reward.
I can't help feeling like it's more than just “the tools turning us” and more about the incentive structures and systems underneath it, and our ability to resist. The metrics reflect what investors, markets, or institutions value and over time, we start optimising ourselves around those signals.
For me (especially working with kids), the deeper issue isn’t the platform at all. It’s who gets to decide what counts.
I totally understand from where your perspective is coming. But with novelty, deliberate rest & brief creativity rituals, one needs to have joy. You can't push one much to the edges of creativity, there has to be some sense of intrinsic motivation & desire to create.
Joy has to be in the driver seat. Take for example- thousands of people were at the starting line in Chamonix for multiple race distances. Everyone was invested, be it physically, financially, emotionally but mentally there is no yard stick to measure.
Even though every runner would be having the best trail running gear with them, every nutrition they need and then also tons of people would DNF meaning they would leave the race. It simply shows we have some expectation and when it doesn't get met, our emotional regulation goes haywire and we even don't remember that heck yeah we are in the mountains, the very place we love to explore. Everything gets forgotten from our cognition. Does the mountains change if we complete CCC in 15 hours instead of 12-13, none of it changes. We gotta deep dive that there is no replacement for Joy.
Joy has to be in the drive seat of training as well. Ben Dhiman after coming 2nd in UTMB simply put one gotta love doing this, then only one can succeed. Tom Evans also said his relationship with running went to that he had to perform & win but before this year's UTMB, he reclaimed his relationship with running which got reflected in his win. Ruth Croft has been having a similar approach for more than a decade. Does Courtney not have fun, when almost 99.99% of professionals would have quit, she kept chipping away and continued to cherish the community she was surrounded with.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot as well, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears is a great predictor of either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Franz Stampfl, coach of Roger Bannister said-The great barrier is the mental hurdle.
If Roger Bannister's coach knew it 70 years ago, then there is for sure people need to know that yeah mental component is a huge chunk of whether one succeeds or not.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears which either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Hi Sudhanshu, thank you for this thoughtful comment. There are many layers that contribute to creativity (my list was not meant to be exhaustive)! Mindset plays a huge role and joy, meaning, and purpose all contribute to fulfillment and success in creating.
Your point about safety fostering creativity directly relates to how associative thinking flourishes. When the brain feels threatened or under time pressure, it narrows its focus and creative associations become limited. The mind needs space and psychological safety to make the novel connections that define creative thought. Wrote about this cognitive process here: https://substack.com/@diegobonifacino/note/p-187407942
I love this. Many years ago I joined a creativity workshop and I learned that creativity also requires time. Maybe that's similar to creativity requires rest. Nobody can work 24/7 not just be creative. Athletes don't train 12 hours a day every day. And those who do, burn out. Our body needs to replenish energy and that's just human biology.
Such great tips! I was so fascinated by your mention of us being in a higher sympathetic state when objects such as our devices are so close to our face. It’s no wonder so many of us find ease, comfort, and a clearer state of mind being outdoors. Every creative needs to read this piece! Thank you for sharing!
I really like this. As a psychologist it makes me think of boredom and creativity. Creativity often grows out of boredom and our drive to never stop intrudes on space to just sit, be bored, and let ideas grow.
Loved this, I came to realize this slowly too. Now everytime I remind myself to take my time while doing something and understand it inside out, see things my way without being influenced by anyone, hence, being me, being unique.
Julie--The strangest cognitive thing happened to me-2023 auto accident destroyed y prefrontal cortex... I lost me. BUT, I am now a CREATIVE SAVANT! I can't stop being creative--I've designed 4 businesses in 4 weeks and written SHARDS, the Amesiac's Autobiography. Thought you'd be interested.
in music production there's a move called subtraction. when a mix feels muddy you don't fix it by adding more. you carve space. you remove what's competing. you strip it back until the essential thing can breathe.
i keep thinking efficiency obsession is the opposite of this. it's the instinct to add more output, more optimization, more tracking, until the actual thing you were trying to make disappears under all the effort to make it better. the efficiency swallows the art.
Some fascinating (and creative!) ideas; much to reflect on.
I wonder about the nap research. As a sleep specialist, I've followed the literature on naps for some time. My understanding has been there are two good options, and one to avoid.
The research I've seen indicates that naps that run longer than 30 minutes but less than an hour may result in a brief period of Delta wave sleep, which can leave one quite groggy and disoriented upon awakening.
Naps involving REM sleep being positive makes sense to me. However, there are two other positive possibilities:
I'm guessing the research on the lack of benefits of non-REM rest was done with subjects who had little if any experience practicing contemplative disciplines like yoga nidra, mindfulness, contemplative prayer, etc. The Yoga nidra research I've seen, dating back as long as 50 years, is consistent in showing that very mindful (but gentle!) practice of 10-20 minutes of yoga nidra during the day yields immense benefits, not only physiological but in terms of creativity as well. Here's one example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187124000385
Here's a fascinating thing about taking brief breaks I just learned.
Jan (my wife) and I opened an online community a few months ago with the primary aim being supporting people in establishing a stable and inspiring practice of effortless mindfulness. We learned very quickly what you're writing about in this post - that folks feel that they simply have no time to meditate (of course, this includes the millions who spend 2-4 hours nightly watching Netflix or other streaming platforms)
So after a month or so, we switched to "brief pauses" - lasting from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. People really had no excuse to keep them from finding this little bit of time.
But in the course of sharing this with others, I came across the work of Dr. Eli Susman, a psychologist who has done research in the area of micro practices. his research shows that as little as 20 seconds (!!!) of a focused, intentional practice is MORE beneficial than 20 minutes of the typical mind wandering, day dreaming "meditation" session so many practice.
Anyway, apologies for the unusual length of this comment and please - continue reminding us of the need to pause!!! Our creativity and our lives may depend on it.
Hi Don, the nuance around naps is important and I'm not sure that all these variables have been studied. YES to 20 second breaks!
Thanks Julie. Actually, I was surprised in both of the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT I) certifications I got that the facilitators were solidly "against" naps for people with chronic insomnia. So I made a point of looking at the distinctions that have been made in various research studies. If you do not know "how" to nap, it's true, naps are likely to reduce "sleep hunger" and make it harder for an insomniac to improve their overall sleep.
On the other hand, the research I've seen establishes that someone with some experience with yoga nidra or other more conscious forms of resting can actually significantly reduce insomnia symptoms, because they're basically practicing a skill which is absolutely necessary for good sleep. The beauty of it also is even if you don't have a diagnosis of insomnia and you think you sleep well, learning these napping skills and yoga nidra in general has been shown by research to deepen stage 3 sleep and to help you get more out of REM sleep as well!
Thanks for writing. This morning I was writing about how we avoid making decisions or doing things because we want to control the outcomes. An impossibility of course when we aren't the only input affecting the formula. But an illusion the ego attaches itself to nonetheless.
I just read Our Obsession with Efficiency Is Killing Creativity by Dr. Julie Fratantoni, and it hit a nerve.
She writes that creativity needs three things: risk, safety, and rest. And that last one REST feels like the piece we keep "forgetting" in edtech. And I say forgetting because I don't think they try to leave it out... or at least I really hope not.
In my world, there’s constant talk about fostering creativity: building platforms that reward experimentation, gamifying risk-taking, creating safe virtual spaces for collaboration.
But rest? That’s where the conversation thins out. I see this often when listening to teams or people that design learning environments. Everyone wants to optimise for shorter lessons, faster feedback, smarter dashboards. Even when they talk about slowing down, it’s often another efficiency play: “We’ve found two-hour learning windows improve outcomes.” And they do. Its really interesting when you look at the stats.
But there’s an irony here. Many edtech companies were founded to counter traditional schooling - the pressure, the pace, the over-standardisation. Yet, in the race to make learning more efficient, do they risk recreating the very systems they set out to disrupt?
Dr. Fratantoni’s argument felt like a quiet warning to me: If we optimise creativity too tightly, we starve it of oxygen. Brains (and learners) need unmeasured time to wander, rest, and make new connections.
Maybe the real innovation in edtech isn’t about faster learning, but about building systems that feed back into our rest systems too?
that irony about edtech is the same one i see in the creator economy. you start making things to escape the system, and then the tools you use to share them gradually turn you into the system. the metrics reshape the goal without anyone deciding to change it.
That’s such an interesting parallel, and thank you for sharing!
I’m not sure it’s the tools themselves that turn you into the system though maybe in the creator economy they can feel that way). I think we’re circling the same thing. People design these tools. And people bake certain metrics into them, like growth, engagement, efficiency, and revenue. Those choices aren’t neutral.
The tools then amplify whatever they’re built to reward.
I can't help feeling like it's more than just “the tools turning us” and more about the incentive structures and systems underneath it, and our ability to resist. The metrics reflect what investors, markets, or institutions value and over time, we start optimising ourselves around those signals.
For me (especially working with kids), the deeper issue isn’t the platform at all. It’s who gets to decide what counts.
You are truly a high human being.
I totally understand from where your perspective is coming. But with novelty, deliberate rest & brief creativity rituals, one needs to have joy. You can't push one much to the edges of creativity, there has to be some sense of intrinsic motivation & desire to create.
Joy has to be in the driver seat. Take for example- thousands of people were at the starting line in Chamonix for multiple race distances. Everyone was invested, be it physically, financially, emotionally but mentally there is no yard stick to measure.
Even though every runner would be having the best trail running gear with them, every nutrition they need and then also tons of people would DNF meaning they would leave the race. It simply shows we have some expectation and when it doesn't get met, our emotional regulation goes haywire and we even don't remember that heck yeah we are in the mountains, the very place we love to explore. Everything gets forgotten from our cognition. Does the mountains change if we complete CCC in 15 hours instead of 12-13, none of it changes. We gotta deep dive that there is no replacement for Joy.
Joy has to be in the drive seat of training as well. Ben Dhiman after coming 2nd in UTMB simply put one gotta love doing this, then only one can succeed. Tom Evans also said his relationship with running went to that he had to perform & win but before this year's UTMB, he reclaimed his relationship with running which got reflected in his win. Ruth Croft has been having a similar approach for more than a decade. Does Courtney not have fun, when almost 99.99% of professionals would have quit, she kept chipping away and continued to cherish the community she was surrounded with.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot as well, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears is a great predictor of either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Franz Stampfl, coach of Roger Bannister said-The great barrier is the mental hurdle.
If Roger Bannister's coach knew it 70 years ago, then there is for sure people need to know that yeah mental component is a huge chunk of whether one succeeds or not.
There is one thing told that work harder than everybody else in the room but one doesn't tell it all boils down to mental component a lot, what kind of internal monologue goes b/w our ears which either limits or propels our progression, the amount of improvement we can do in any domain/walk of life.
Hi Sudhanshu, thank you for this thoughtful comment. There are many layers that contribute to creativity (my list was not meant to be exhaustive)! Mindset plays a huge role and joy, meaning, and purpose all contribute to fulfillment and success in creating.
Your point about safety fostering creativity directly relates to how associative thinking flourishes. When the brain feels threatened or under time pressure, it narrows its focus and creative associations become limited. The mind needs space and psychological safety to make the novel connections that define creative thought. Wrote about this cognitive process here: https://substack.com/@diegobonifacino/note/p-187407942
I love this. Many years ago I joined a creativity workshop and I learned that creativity also requires time. Maybe that's similar to creativity requires rest. Nobody can work 24/7 not just be creative. Athletes don't train 12 hours a day every day. And those who do, burn out. Our body needs to replenish energy and that's just human biology.
I loved this !! Thank you so much for writing this
I’m so glad it resonates Deepak!
Forced breaks … this is true. Sometimes I force myself for the whole weekend to do simple activities. Like today - I plan to watch 8 hours of red zone
The bunkie I'm building has a cathedral ceiling, 14'.
Liked, shared, and grateful
Thank you! I'm so glad this resonates with you Meg!
I hope this reaches the ENTIRE world!!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Hi Emily, thanks so much for reading and for your kind words!
Such great tips! I was so fascinated by your mention of us being in a higher sympathetic state when objects such as our devices are so close to our face. It’s no wonder so many of us find ease, comfort, and a clearer state of mind being outdoors. Every creative needs to read this piece! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, I'm so glad this resonates with you!
I really like this. As a psychologist it makes me think of boredom and creativity. Creativity often grows out of boredom and our drive to never stop intrudes on space to just sit, be bored, and let ideas grow.
Yes, boredom is the mother of creativity and it's endangered!
Loved this, I came to realize this slowly too. Now everytime I remind myself to take my time while doing something and understand it inside out, see things my way without being influenced by anyone, hence, being me, being unique.
Julie--The strangest cognitive thing happened to me-2023 auto accident destroyed y prefrontal cortex... I lost me. BUT, I am now a CREATIVE SAVANT! I can't stop being creative--I've designed 4 businesses in 4 weeks and written SHARDS, the Amesiac's Autobiography. Thought you'd be interested.
in music production there's a move called subtraction. when a mix feels muddy you don't fix it by adding more. you carve space. you remove what's competing. you strip it back until the essential thing can breathe.
i keep thinking efficiency obsession is the opposite of this. it's the instinct to add more output, more optimization, more tracking, until the actual thing you were trying to make disappears under all the effort to make it better. the efficiency swallows the art.
Subtraction, I love it!