That flash of insight you need for your research problem? The innovative teaching approach you’ve been trying to develop? The creative breakthrough for your next publication? They rarely come when you’re grinding away at your desk. Creative insights emerge when your mind has space to wander and make unexpected connections.

Yet many academics treat creativity like it’s something that can be forced through sheer effort. We sit at our desks for hours, trying to think our way to originality, believing that if we just work hard enough, the creative solutions will come.

This misunderstands how creativity actually works.

Think of your creative mind like a garden. You can’t make plants grow faster by pulling on them, nor can you force flowers to bloom by working longer hours in the garden. Instead, you create the conditions that allow growth to happen naturally – you prepare the soil, provide water and nutrients, and then give the plants time and space to flourish. The same applies to academic creativity – rather than forcing it, we need to create the conditions that allow creative insights to emerge, and then trust in the natural process of intellectual growth.

Making space for creativity

Consider how different your academic work might be if you:

• Took a walk when stuck on a difficult research problem instead of pushing through
• Built in regular periods of unstructured thinking time between focused work sessions
• Allowed yourself to step away from a challenging piece of writing, trusting that your subconscious mind will keep working on it
• Started your day with 15 minutes of free writing or mindless doodling to let your mind warm up gradually

The paradox of insightful scholarship is that making progress often requires making space for creativity. When we stop actively pursuing solutions, we create the mental space needed for insights to surface naturally. Sometimes, stepping back is the best way to move forward.

Meaningful academic work isn’t just about the time we spend actively producing – it’s also about creating the conditions that allow our best ideas to emerge.