What’s one word that describes your morning routine? Rushed? Stressful? Old? How about creative?

New studies show the repetitive morning routines most of us have are exactly what we shouldn’t be doing if we desire flexible and open-minded thinking, according to the Time article “Why Morning Routines Are Creativity Killers.” One study published in the journal Thinking and Reasoning showed “imaginative insights” will more often turn up in our groggy and unfocused moments. These insights come to us because the mental processes that restrict “distracting or irrelevant thoughts” during the day are at their weakest when we’re tired. Creative thoughts erupt when a tired person tries to problem-solve because they have to “widen their search through their knowledge network,” leading to more possible, and creative, answers.
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