The All-Time Skill: How Sport Can Contribute To Your Career Boost?
At the top of the soft skills list, creative thinking invariably holds its dominance.
Thinking out of the box has always helped the developers to find the non-standard clues, SMM specialists created catchy advertising texts, for designers this skill comes in handy when trying to effectively solve users’ problems. Resume crafters whose CV writing services have helped numerous applicants to get a dream job, admit that innovative problem-solvers are highly valued in every sphere. Little surprise, thus that from early childhood parents start hastily looking for ways their children could hone this valuable skill. Oddly enough, the sport tends to be the last course they consider, if at all.
What Is Creativity?
If we want to know how to avoid destroying the natural creativity of our children and even strive to develop it, we need to know what it is. Creativity is most often associated with creating new, original, unusual ideas. It allows us to perceive and find different solutions to the same situation in a flash so that it doesn’t take too much time. We have to admit it, we use this skill almost in every situation of daily chores – in a crowded commute when we do not have all the ingredients to cook dinner or a fully prepared dress for a costume party at kindergarten. In other words, creativity can be defined as a mastery of coping with difficult and unexpected situations.
How Sport Is Bound To Creativity?
In sport, creativity manifests itself in the quick recognition of a problem, for example on the pitch, and generating ideas for solving it, and specifically in finding the optimal and most effective way. In addition, it is also about breaking the repeated patterns of moves, grips, or hits, playing something that our opponent does not expect. The youngest players start their sports adventure with the use of general development games and activities as well as those characteristics for a given sports discipline. All kinds of activities that a child perceives as fun are a natural space for creativity, as well as a great opportunity to learn and develop skills. It is up to physical education trainers to observe and notice when the child thinks out of the box and chooses the other option than dictated by the assumed pattern.
Scientifical Explanation
The thing is that during physical activity, our brain switches to a completely different mode of thinking and information processing. An attempt to persistently tackle a difficult problem or task or to analyze a new educational material triggers specific centers in the brain that require concentration, volitional efforts, and additional attention. These processes require a lot of resources, but they are not always enough, especially when it is necessary to operate with a large amount of information. This is why students get tired quickly when solving daunting tasks and mastering difficult topics.
How Does That Work In Practice?
Once children get carried away by performing sports exercises, default networks are activated in the brain. These neural structures are capable to process huge amounts of information simultaneously and without excessive expenditure of energy. In these neural networks, new information is compared with previously acquired knowledge. Thus, the brain provides an understanding of new material or the solution of complex problems that, in conditions of prolonged concentration of attention, could not be effectively assimilated. Little surprise that during physical activity, children frequently have brainwaves and insights, they suddenly understand how to perform tasks.
How Else Can Sport Contribute?
A Perfect Memory
In one experiment, it was shown that people could memorize more words right after sprinting than before running. High-intensity cardio activity promotes the active production of the hormones dopamine and adrenaline. These hormones, in turn, improve memory. Additionally, when doing sports, the number of new hippocampal cells as well as the viability of the old one’s increases. The hippocampus is a structure in the brain that is responsible for long-term memory. So as you exercise, your memory grows stronger.
Imagination
Research has shown that the hippocampus improves not only memory but also imagination. As you already know, playing sports triggers the formation of hippocampal cells. This means that the imagination is also optimized. Plus, many creative people find inspiration in their workouts, which helps them develop creativity and generate cool ideas.
Quick Solutions
If you often hesitate and can’t make a choice, go to the gym. During physical exertion, all organs and tissues are intensively saturated with oxygen. When the brain receives a large amount of oxygen, its frontal part begins to work more actively. It is this part that is responsible for making quick decisions.
Maximum Attention
When you do strength training, you need to be attentive and focus on every movement. After all, if you do something wrong, you will not see the effect of the exercise, and you can even get injured. Over time, this ability to concentrate on even the smallest details enters into everyday life and work.
No For Topographical Cretinism
If a trip to an unfamiliar place ends up walking in circles and you can’t find the location you want, sports are your salvation as they have been proven to develop orienteering skills. So practice regularly and you don’t have to wander from point to point following the navigator.
Focusing On The Goal, Not The Obstacles
Endurance sports such as running, triathlon, and swimming develop a sense of purpose. Indeed, very often we run the last kilometers not due to physical strength, but due to moral and volitional qualities. Gradually, dedication and perseverance become character traits and helps to immediately bring all things to an end. Even if it’s a huge quarterly report or a doctoral dissertation.
Processing Information Lightning-Fast
For instance, yoga practice improves the brain’s ability to quickly perceive and process information we receive from our senses. If you want to learn how to quickly process information, it is enough to do yoga 2-3 times a week for 20 minutes.
Super Productivity
When you do not have time, and everything falls out of hand, add workouts to your schedule. Even if your day is packed to the gills, exercising can help you get more done. After training, we become more alert and collected. This allows you to complete familiar tasks in a shorter amount of time. As you can see, playing sports does not take time, but saves it.
Successful people are, first of all, those who worked hard not only on their talents but also on themselves. Instill in children a love of sports and an active lifestyle from an early age, and then life success will not be long in coming.
Author’s Bio
Carmella Andersson works as a resume writer for ResumesOnTime company. Apart from the pleasure of the writing process, it gives her an opportunity to improve her critical and creative thinking skills.