Is Your Brain in Closed Mode or Open Mode?

Which mode are you at work? Are you in a Closed Mode or an Open Mode?

Here’s two options. Which one sounds most like you at work on a ‘normal’ day?

Option #1

Lots to do, probably under pressure to get things done. Focused on a task before jumping to another task, or juggling several (or many) projects at once. People coming into your office – a supervisor, team members, colleagues from other departments – enquiring about status updates, asking questions, demanding this or that. Given the distractions, you become tunnel-vision, if not rigid, inflexible, and impatient. While it might sound unpleasant to others if you described it, it can be invigorating in an odd way. It’s having a purpose, being efficient and getting things done. Stressful maybe, but that’s work for you.

Option #2

Lots to do, but your choice of tasks is random and leisurely. In fact, the ‘shiny’ projects get your attention because there’s something curious about them. You perceive there’s something to discover under the layers of information. Routine is dropped for daydreaming. You find a relaxed oasis somewhere to think – even if it’s simply inside your own head – so you can play and be humorous with your thoughts. The purpose is not specific, in fact, you’re not really sure where your thoughts are headed, but your intuition tells you there’s something to be found by letting go of right and wrong, yes or no, completed or unfinished.

Welcome to Closed Mode vs Open Mode

These two situations describe the differences between Closed Mode and Open Mode – which is not to be confused with Closed Mind vs Open Mind.

They’re sort of similar: they both involve a type of “closed-ness.”

They’re not at all similar: Closed Mode isn’t negative in the short-term as you are “closing out” the world so you can focus and concentrate on the work at hand.

Closed Mode and Open Mode were coined by comedian John Cleese from a well-known speech entitled Creativity in Management which he gave to Video Arts in 1991. (The video comes and goes on YouTube: try this link. Or, the entire transcript is available here on James Clear’s website.)

The points Cleese raises were built on the research of the late Donald W. Mackinnon, a noted professor psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.

As MacKinnon demonstrated in his research “The Nature and Nurture of Creative Talent” (1962), “Creativity is not related to one’s intelligence, and it is not a talent.” Cleese said it slightly differently: “Creativity is not a talent, it’s a way of operating.”

Cleese’s general point is that we are in two different modes at work, either Closed Mode or Open Mode. In the video, he usess this example to demonstrate the differences between them:

“Alexander Fleming must have been in the open mode when he found a petri dish with no culture growing.

In the Closed Mode, he would have discarded it as a failure. But in the Open Mode, he became curious, and this led him to discover penicillin.

In the Closed Mode, the uncultured petri dish is useless. In the Open Mode, it is a clue.”

The Closed Mode is often the Default

The Closed Mode (option #1 above) is when we’re surrounded by demands, deadlines and details. In short, this mode allows us to get things done.

Its benefits allow us to deal and work with:

Pressure, to get things done, to get things done right
Being impatient, often working with (tight) deadlines
Finding order in chaos
Deciding what’s important vs. what’s not important; what’s needed now vs. in the future
Setting priorities
Being efficient; looking for efficiencies
Having in tunnel vision: focused on the goal, the end

For obvious reasons, the Closed Mode is likely to be our default mode because it’s what keeps us employed, promoted, and accomplished. But as beneficial as it can be, it should not be the default working mode.

Shifting to Open Mode for Creative Thinking

When someone needs fresh thinking to solve a problem, the brain needs to shift to the Open Mode (option #2 above) so that discovery and exploratory side of creativity can come front-of-mind. This isn’t just coming up with wacky ideas: it’s thinking of different strategies, seeing patterns in how things are done or handled, exploring possibilities or observing trends.

The traits of the Open Mode include:

Daydreaming: which is simply thinking of a different, future state
Mess and Chaos: when the conscious, deliberate mind stops, the subconscious mind starts to retrieve stored information, knowledge, insights, ideas that could be applied in new ways
Random: all this prior information floods back to the front of mind, meaning it can be re-organised, re-considered and re-made in different ways
Flexible: not censuring the mind from things that can’t be
Democratic: one perspective isn’t right; all perspectives could be useful to re-think and re-frame problems
Playful: it’s a “what if?” attitude that opens up to possibilities
Curious: perhaps the greatest creative trait. To be stimulated by not wanting things to stay the same, but looking for continuous improvement

The Open Mode is the mind ready for brainstorming, either formally or informally. A group brainstorm with everyone in a Closed Mode would be ineffective. Even one person in the Closed Mode will bring newness to a half. Because the Closed Mode is devoted to getting things accomplished, it leaps upon censure and negativity, not creativity and discovery.

Both mindsets are vital for business, but not at the wrong time. At the moment of important decision-making, an executive doesn’t want to start thinking of options and alternatives, any more than they want to see the humorous side during an intense crisis situation.

Practical Suggestions to Switch to Open Mode

Because the Closed Mode is ‘automatic’ in many ways, it’s important to find effective ways to change the mind from one to the other. Here are some practical suggestions:

Change your environment. Get away from your desk, go somewhere with a more relaxed atmosphere.
Ignore email, silence the phone, leave behind the to-do lists.
Give yourself a few minutes to decompress.
Get away from the area where you are in Closed Mode (typically stationery, at your desk). Walk around the block, head to the gym, even sitting somewhere with your eyes closed is acceptable.
Stephen Johnson, in his wonderful book Where Do Good Ideas Come From?, is a big advocate of coffee houses and cafés to stimulate creativity thinking.
Since most Closed Mode work is based on text or numbers, try the opposite: glance through magazines, listen to music, or scroll through visual-based sites like Pinterest or Vimeo.
Collaborate with others who may also be trying to change their mindsets.

The longer the transition time, the better – but frankly, 10 to 15 minutes is usually plenty of time to allow your brain to switch gears.

But if deadlines are looming …

These tactics will be useless. A different plan of escape may be to plan for times when you can more easily switch from Closed to Open Modes.

Plan specific time in your diary for when your brain is most clear and unencumbered.

Match up times when your brain is most active. (Do you think best in the morning, later afternoon, evening?)

Coordinate them when you’re not in the office or at your desk.

There’s many tips to effective daydreaming, but I’ll focus on one: Be prepared. Daydreaming without a goal, plan or direction may be a waste of time. Give yourself a problem to solve. Don’t make the problem overly complex. Write it as a simple (not simplistic) statement, something to overcome, improve or change.

Any other tips you’ve tried to switch from Closed Mode to Open Mode? Please add your thoughts and comments below.