Use the power of a pause to speed up your creativity

When you're stuck, the instinct is to push harder. You think, “If I just work a little longer, maybe I’ll crack the code.”

But here's the thing: the answer is often found in the pause, not in the grind. The pause—an intentional break—creates space for breakthrough thinking.

Some of the most creative and inventive people have harnessed the power of the pause. 

Einstein got it. He didn’t wait for inspiration at his desk. He took long walks in silence, letting his mind wander. It was during one of those pauses that he unlocked his theory of relativity. Not by force, but by allowing his subconscious to do its work.

He famously said, “I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, the famous German philosopher often took long walks to help him think deeply about his ideas. Nietzsche believed that taking a pause from deep concentration and going for a walk was essential to his creative thinking saying, “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”

J.K. Rowling’s journey to create Harry Potter was no different. Before her famous “pause,” she was a struggling single mother living in Edinburgh, unable to get a publisher to take a chance on her manuscript. It was there, in the quiet, that the magical elements of Hogwarts and her characters emerged. She didn’t force it. She created space for her ideas to breathe.

She said, "I do a lot of thinking when I walk. It’s my time to think things through. I often come up with ideas while I’m out for a walk."

So, what’s the deal with a pause?

It’s not giving up. It’s creating the right conditions for your mind to do what it does best—connect, reframe, and make sense of what was previously hidden.

When you’re focused, your prefrontal cortex is in control. It’s logical, rational, and task-driven. But when you step away, something remarkable happens: The default mode network (DMN) kicks in. It’s the part of your brain that works when you’re not thinking about the problem.

This is where the magic happens. The DMN is responsible for creative thinking, connecting disparate ideas, and recognising patterns. When you're not actively thinking about a problem, the DMN helps make connections between ideas and generates insights, which is why "aha!" moments often occur when you're relaxed or distracted.

Dr. John Kounios, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Drexel University and co-author of The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain, explains it best: “Insight occurs when you’re not trying to solve a problem directly, but instead when your brain is allowed to make new connections in a relaxed state.”

The pause allows your brain to do the heavy lifting. It incubates ideas, integrates diverse information, and helps you see things from a new angle. The result? Breakthrough moments that might never come from continuous focused effort alone.

The act of pausing

Of course nothing happens unless you make it happen. But sometimes, making it happen means doing ‘nothing at all’ for a little while. That is, taking a pause from the grind.

Next time you’re feeling stuck, try stepping away for a while. Take a walk. Let your mind wander. Go for a run. Do some exercise you enjoy. Or even take a micro nap or sleep on into over night. Let the solution come to you—not through brute force, but through creating space. 

And here's the key: leave the brain to focus only on creating new connections. Put the headphones away. Distraction-free moments allow your brain the peace it needs to process and connect ideas in a deeper, more meaningful way. No podcasts, no music—just you and your thoughts.

In a world that’s obsessed with constant motion, the pause can feel counterintuitive.

But it’s the pause that makes room for breakthrough ideas and innovation. When you take time slow down, the important things often speed up.