How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas

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This week on TED.com August 19, 2017

Talk of the week Manoush Zomorodi: How boredom can lead to your most brilliant ideas 16:13 minutes · Filmed Apr 2017 · Posted Aug 2017 · TED2017 Do you sometimes have your most creative ideas while folding laundry, washing dishes or doing nothing in particular? It's because when your body goes on autopilot, your brain gets busy forming new neural connections that connect ideas and solve problems. Learn to love being bored as Manoush Zomorodi explains the connection between spacing out and creativity. Watch now »

Playlist of the week Where do ideas come from? How does the metaphorical lightbulb go off? These 9 talks explore the nature of ideas themselves: where they come from, how they evolve, and how to nurture them. Watch » 9 TED Talks • Total run time 2:18:49

Among this week's new TED Talks The traditional ways to turn art into money (like record sales) have been broken by the internet, leaving musicians, writers and artists wondering how to make a living. Which is why musician Jack Conte created Patreon, a way for artists on the internet to get paid by their fans. Could payment platforms like this change what it means to be an artist in the digital age? Watch » Harvard Law professor Ronald Sullivan fights to free wrongfully convicted people from jail -- in fact, he has freed some 6,000 innocent people over the course of his career. He shares heartbreaking stories of how (and why) people end up being put in jail for something they didn't do. Watch » When Richard J. Berry, the mayor of Albuquerque, saw a man on a street corner holding a cardboard sign that read "Want a job," he decided to take him up on it. He and his staff started a citywide program to help homeless people by giving them day jobs and a place to sleep. Find out how your city can replicate Albuquerque's success in this frank and optimistic talk. Watch » What's one secret to longevity? According to psychologist Susan Pinker, it's not a sunny disposition or a low-fat, gluten-free diet -- in fact, by studying communities where people live longest, it turns out that close personal relationships and face-to-face interactions matter most. Learn more about what it takes to live to 100 and beyond. Watch »

Read more on ideas.ted.com Opinion: We must unite to confront religious violence now » Behind this week's headlines, why — and how — to stand together in the face of hate We humans: How your to-do list shapes your personality » There's the personality you're born with, and the one you develop Politics: A powerful insight about race in the United States » The conversation Americans need to have

Quote of the Week “ Fear is like a disease. When it moves, it moves like wildfire. But what happens when, even in the face of that fear, you do what you've got to do? That's called courage. And just like fear, courage is contagious." Damon Davis Courage is contagious

Sincerely, x: equality executive This week on Sincerely, X, the new podcast from TED and Audible: Why does corporate America have so few female executives, despite overwhelming evidence that gender equality is good for business? Rare insight from C-suites and boardrooms. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, the TED Android app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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