Happy new year! I hope you had a fantastic holiday and it doesn’t seem like a distant past already!

Did you get the opportunity to celebrate festivities, take time with loved ones, rest, or reflect?

Perhaps you used the quieter period to develop a project, or something else all together?

Uncharacteristically (more on this later), I took a chunk of time off.

My family and I went to Mauritius for 10 days.

Jaz and I took 7 days to do all the things we’ve been wanting to do in and around London.

I was surprised by the (mind-bending!) unexpected benefits of taking time off.

Fortunately, I got to understand the science behind my experience — last week I attended a talk on the neuroscience of creativity by a renowned Professor of Human Brain Research (more on this later).

In my first week back working with clients, the connections between all these experiences clicked into place.

I’m excited to share my journey with you and 3 top tips that I’ll be sharing with my clients going forwards when creating their framework.

You can also apply these tips to your creative work and leverage your creativity (versus getting stuck) + save yourself lots of time and heartache.

Let's dive in!

Mauritius

Mauritius was dreamy.

It’d been a while since I hung out on sandy beaches, ate exotic food, and woke up to blue skies and heat everyday.

During the day we ventured around the island.

We checked out the fresh food markets in the capital city Port Louis, visited Hindu and Christian places of worship, chased waterfalls, explored the coastline by boat, and discovered beautifully restored old buildings.

At the end of each day we had a refreshing swim in the sea.

London

My week with Jaz in and around London was a blast too!

A highlight was finally seeing New York-based performing arts company Shen Yun.

If you get the chance to see them perform live, take it.

You’ll be in for an explosion of colour, movement, and sound.

Being half Chinese from Hong Kong myself, I vouch for their sharing of the beauty, traditions, and stories of Chinese culture.

Unexpected benefits of taking time off

Although I didn’t “work” during this period, I had a lot of “aha” moments for MySnapshot and my approach to work, as well as my own personal growth.

These “aha” moments were sometimes me joining the dots which helped things click into place, and other times mind-shifting and course-changing “aha’s” that have altered the way I view or approach MySnapshot, my work, and myself.

The return on investment for the “aha’s” during my time off is far greater than I could have ever anticipated.

I’m an active person, always up to something. If it's not building MySnapshot, I’m engaging in the communities I’m a part of, learning new skills, building or iterating work/ personal/ home systems, seeing friends and family, or exercising.

I love relaxing and taking holidays, but in recent years I have had the tendency to have less "downtime" as I got swept up in my work and life commitments.

My holidays in Mauritius and London reminded me of the power of switching gears for different periods of time. From taking quick breaks between 30 minute working sessions, to longer breaks for a number of days or weeks.

The 4 stages of creativity

Last week I attended Professor Vincent Walsh’s talk on The Neuroscience of Creativity.

Vincent is a Professor of Human Brain Research. He leads the Applied Cognitive Neuroscience group at University College London. His research has been used by elite performers, including Great Britain’s Rio Olympic Team.

I discovered through his talk that my holiday experience was the second-stage of the four-stage model of creativity that Graham Wallas wrote about in 1926 in his book The Art of Thought.

Here’s my adaptation of Graham Wallas’s 4-stage model of creativity.

Stage 1) Prepare

The research + gather stage where you consume various sources of information, investigate your topic in all directions, and gather a variety of ideas.

Stage 2) Incubate

The stage where you do not think consciously about the topic.

Stage 3) Illuminate

The "aha" moment — when things click into place and you have clarity.

Stage 4) Verify

The stage where you bring to life your unconscious work and inspiration, test your hypotheses, share it with others, and get feedback.

Overlapping Stages

The 4 overlapping circles reflect how in our daily stream of thought, these 4 stages constantly overlap with each other as we explore different problems.

When we’re going through our emails, speaking to customers, or preparing to give a presentation, we’re at the same time:

• Incubating on a problem we proposed to ourselves a few days ago.
• Accumulating knowledge in preparation for a second problem.
• Verifying conclusions on a third problem.

Even while exploring the same problem, our mind may be unconsciously incubating one aspect of it, while it is consciously employed in preparing for or verifying another aspect.

We have a powerful and creative brain, hey?!

The neuroscience of creativity

Vincent builds on Graham Wallas’s 4-stage model of creativity with neuroscience:

For the incubation stage, when we do not think consciously about a problem or topic, the brain state is daydreaming, relaxation, not thinking consciously about the topic, or actually switching off our mind and thinking of nothing.

When we let our brain have “downtime”, we allow our brain to mull over all the information we’ve been taking in and make new connections — new connections that we haven't made before.

Just because we are not concentrating on a problem or topic, this doesn't mean that our brain is not trying to do something with that information.

Applying neuroscience + the 4 stages of creativity to creating a framework for your course

In sessions with two clients last week, I saw the power of the incubate stage in action in the creation of their framework.

Amanda

The last few months Amanda has had a lot on her plate, so it had been a bit longer than she had wanted to work on her framework and for us to meet to take it another step forwards.

We embraced this and in conversation found the incubation period gave her clarity on what she needed to figure out to make progress.

As Amanda shared her thoughts and questions with me, we brainstormed together possible ideas and options. We made new connections and had several “aha” moments in the process.

By the end of our session, Amanda’s vision for her framework was clear, and everything magically clicked into place!

Jordan

When Jordan and I met last week, I was amazed.

He had incubated his "aha's" from our session just before Christmas, integrated feedback on his framework from his peers, and whizzed through the verify stage.

He had completed his framework — it was done!

Marisha

Reflecting on the creative process of creating a framework, I remember a conversation in December with Marisha.

Marisha shared in her feedback of our work together:

Marisha is absolutely right.

It’s really helpful to be aware of the 4-stage creative process — and to use it to our advantage so we can create our frameworks with greater awareness, joy, and speed.

So here’s me sharing it! And, here are my 3 tips that I’ll be sharing with my clients when creating their framework going forwards.

3 framework creation tips

1. Start early so you have time to come back to your framework drafts. Leverage the prepare, incubate, illuminate, and verify stages of creativity.
2. Give yourself permission to take breaks when creating your framework.
   1. Taking a break every 30 minutes can do wonders in a working session. Perhaps go for a walk outside?
   2. Giving yourself a longer break like a few days or a week or two, can do wonders too.
3. It’s okay to be frustrated or stuck. It's part of the process. Embrace and enjoy it. Let it happen. Incubate. Hold out. Be courageous.

That’s right. Hold out. Be brave and bold.

Here’s what Marisha had to say about her framework after she weathered the storm of her frustration:

Wishing you a creative 2023!

I hope what I’ve shared fuels your creativity, work, holidays, and year ahead :)

I’m rested, excited and ready to go for 2023!

How about you?

Charlotte

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Two London-based Write of Passage friends Eric Ho and Melissa Menke joined me for Vincent's talk last week in London!