Are You a Daydreamer? That’s a Good Thing!

According to a new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology, daydreaming during classes or meetings isn’t necessarily a bad thing – in fact, it may mean you’re exceptionally smart and creative.

“People tend to think of mind wandering as something that is bad. You try to pay attention and you can’t,” says Eric Schumacher, Georgia Tech associate psychology professor and co-author of the study, “Our data are consistent with the idea that this isn’t always true. Some people have more efficient brains.”

Schumacher and his fellow co-author Christine Godwin, along with their students and colleagues, used an MRI machine to study the brain patterns of over 100 people in an awake, resting state. Afterwards, those same people were given tests to measure their creative and intellectual abilities, as well as a questionnaire about how often and where they tend to daydream.

According to the results, people who reported frequent daydreaming scored higher on their intellectual and creative tests. In addition, the MRI scans showed that their brain systems were more efficient than average. The co-authors concluded that these scores were the result of a higher capacity to think, and that their minds wandered when performing tasks they considered easy.

Now, this is all well and interesting, but how does it relate to you? How can you tell if you have an efficient brain?

Well, perhaps you tune out while listening to someone drone on during a meeting or class. Then, when you snap back into it, you figure out the basics of what you missed while your mind wandered. Or maybe, when that certain boring acquaintance is talking with more words than information, you’ll go into a series of trances with just enough time in-between to hear the useful parts.

These habits, while seemingly a burden(especially when someone catches you in the act), may be a sign that your brain system has a higher capacity than most others’. Your brain thinks that it’s not being used efficiently, and tries to occupy itself in order to do so.

Of course, these aren’t the only signs of intelligence or creativity. “There are important individual differences to consider as well, such as a person’s motivation or intent to stay focused on a particular task,” said Godwin. Just because you don’t catch yourself daydreaming doesn’t mean you can’t work hard and be great at what you do!