Even Our Brains Need Zoomies Sometimes

Photo of a white dog bounding toward the camera with a blurred green grassy background

Welcome to Part III of our three-part series on “listening for the signals.”

In Part I of this series, we explored why, as a coach, I listen a little more closely when I hear the words, “I just need to…”

In Part II, we considered another kind of signal: the tears that sometimes show up in coaching before we have language for what they mean.

In this final installment, we’re turning toward a signal that many of us are quick to judge, especially at work: the wandering mind. Sometimes, what we call distraction may actually be our brain signalling it needs a different kind of exercise.

Even Our Brains Need Zoomies Sometimes

I realize I might be in the minority on this opinion, (my unpopular take, perhaps), but I assert that the highest and best use of the internet was probably for uploading and sharing cat videos. And maybe one of my favorite versions of the art form is the classic zoomies video. I’m partial to cats, but honestly, I’m a pretty equal opportunity lover of zoomies from any species. Dogs. Cows. Deer. Fish. Yes - the internet provides a wealth of options for animals just going wild, “full of beans” as my husband says. It turns out that the urge to run amok and unrestrained for no reason is quite universal across species and life stages. (Sidenote: the official term is Frenetic Random Activity Periods or FRAPs.)

As adults, we’re often discouraged from random bursts of parkour, but it doesn’t change the fact that both our brains and bodies sometimes crave require the freedom to just bust out of their restraints and go for a little run around. 

I consistently hear clients reflect on their challenges to concentrate, focus, and get things done, when they’re booked in back-to-back meetings, trapped at their desks on Teams or Zoom calls, multitasking with answering emails and messages, and trying to get all the administrative load done through the week. Then, they try to sit down and knock out some big piece of work that requires brainpower, creativity, and insight, using whatever motivation happens to be left in the tank.

I hear it in words that sound like, “I just can’t seem to come up with ideas.” Or, “I’m trying to focus on the task at hand, but my brain keeps wandering to unrelated topics.”

Why Can’t I Focus at Work?

We tend to interpret a wandering mind as a discipline problem. We assume that focus should be available on command and remain steady for as long as the task requires. When it does not, we may respond by trying to remove more distractions, tighten our schedule, or push ourselves harder. (My late-diagnosed ADHDers know this all too well.)

I’m not saying those strategies can’t be useful. Screentime, digital notifications, stress, fatigue, boredom, neurodivergence, and rapidly changing priorities can affect attention. Heck, even a lack of protein or hydration can make it harder to stay focused.

I also observe that, while the task or context might be shifting, many people are essentially asking their brains to stay in “execution and engagement” mode for most of the day.

When our minds wander, we tend to yank them back, and the more tired we get, the more forcefully we tug, and sometimes, the harsher our internal dialogue can become. The reality is that drifting attention may be a signal that the brain needs a different kind of activity.

Your Brain Uses Opposing Modes

Our brains are not built to stay in a single cognitive stance indefinitely. The tension between focused execution and more reflective, associative thinking has been documented in extensive research.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, researchers started observing and describing two different antagonist neural networks, which they coined the “Task Positive Network,” (TPN) and the “Default Mode Network,” (DMN). The TPN is associated with focused attention, problem-solving, decision-making, and the control of action, i.e., doing tasks. The DMN is associated with emotional self-awareness, social cognition, ethical decision-making, creativity, and openness to new ideas. It’s called the default because it’s how our brain operates when left to its own devices without a task to focus on. Have you ever noticed that your best ideas happen to come when you’re shampooing your hair or when you’re on autopilot driving home from work? Or maybe when you’re taking the dog for a walk or lying on a massage table. 

Just like our bodies need both movement and sleep, our brains need both TPN and DMN time. Human brains famously hate boredom. (A 2014 study found that 67% of men and 25% of women chose to inflict an electrical shock on themselves rather than just sit there quietly and think for 15 minutes, despite all participants previously stating that they would pay money to avoid such a shock.) It makes sense that they will wander and entertain themselves if given the chance. This can happen due to either lack of stimulation or from being trapped in the TPN for too long. Sometimes, we might even notice that our mind has started to wander while we’re trying to read a book or listen to a podcast. We could be several minutes in before noticing that we didn’t actually absorb any information because our brain was on a side quest. 

Neither the DMN nor the TPN is superior to the other. They serve different purposes, and both are valuable and important. However, in today’s calendar-packed workplace, and with the proliferation of mobile phones and immediate access to infinite mental stimulation, your brain might not be getting enough time to engage the default mode network. 

What Happens When We Keep Forcing It

This makes a lot of sense. We tend to focus on what’s most visible and measurable. You can mark tasks off a list, tally up meetings attended, and count off your deliverables for the day. No one is patting you on the back for staring absent-mindedly out the window, or doodling in your notebook between meetings, or daydreaming in the breakroom. It’s also much harder to quantify the value of the bright insight you had, the generative mental connection you just made, or the brilliant and ambitious vision you just conjured. 

So instead, we treat these mental meanderings as digressions or as a lack of discipline. But our brains fundamentally need to access DMN time, just as our bodies need sleep. And, while we can certainly try to put it off until a more convenient time, the body and brain will ultimately take what they need, and you may see it showing up in the form of what I call “mental zoomies.” 

Some Problems Need Time to Incubate

Beyond the baseline physiological necessity, we also need this type of spaciousness and breadth to think strategically, connect the dots in ways that weren’t previously obvious, and coalesce the ideas that will make us most impactful and differentiated in our professional and creative lives. 

Sometimes problem solving can be a bit like oobleck - that non-Newtonian cornstarch-and-water concoction we likely played with as kids that becomes hard when pressed on, but fluid when the forces are removed. 

Adding pressure and force does not necessarily yield the needed insights. Sometimes, getting up and walking away, changing the scenery, and allowing ideas to percolate and simmer can be much more effective for reaching new horizons in problem-solving. There’s even a practice called “active procrastination,” which can result in more creative outcomes for some individuals.

We may not always have the luxury of time and space, and not all mind-wandering is helpful or productive. Sometimes we can stray into rumination, anxiety, or spiraling. In those cases, we might be over-leveraging the DMN and could perhaps benefit from some task-oriented activity to switch us back into the TPN. 

Neither neural network is good or bad. The invitation here is to become more observant and curious so that you can better understand what your brain needs in any given situation.

Strategic Leadership Requires More Than Execution

This self-awareness and self-efficacy matter even more as people move into senior leadership roles.

The somewhat ironic reality is that many leaders were initially promoted for being strong executors. They may have been organized, dedicated, focused, and efficient, getting more done with less oversight, resources, or headaches.

Those strengths may still be helpful in a leadership role; however, the primary job requirements for many leadership positions, particularly senior ones, differ significantly.

Instead, leaders are asked to notice patterns, anticipate downstream consequences, connect information across teams, interpret uncertainty, and imagine what the organization may need next. Leaders need to connect with people on a human level, motivate diverse teams, recognize and address interpersonal conflict or team dysfunction, and foster psychological safety in dynamic contexts. These needs require more than a larger volume of execution.

Unfortunately, many leaders are still focused on tactical execution and are rewarded for measures like speed of responsiveness or hours sat in front of the computer. In practice, very little time remains to untangle the gnarly knots and challenges that most organizations and leaders face.

Organizations Can Build Better Conditions for Thinking

The same pattern appears in meetings, events, and team norms. Packed agendas, tight timelines, and on-the-spot decision-making typically leave very little room for creative, expansive, and innovative thinking. 

Organizations that want better thinking can create more space for it. That might mean sending substantive questions in advance, protecting some meeting-free time, building reflection into offsites, or allowing people to return to a complex issue after they have had time to consider it.

It may also mean being more careful about which behaviors are rewarded. Fast responses and full calendars are not always evidence of sound judgment or strategic value.

Plan for the Zommies and Listen for the Signals

You know that you’re going to need to sleep at some point, so you plan for it. You’d never schedule your weekly calendar assuming 24 hours of productivity a day. So perhaps you can also plan for the amount of creative, unrestrained time that the human brain needs in the Default Mode Network. You might need to observe your natural tendencies first to establish a baseline, and then you can plan accordingly. 

For those trying to access a bit more DMN time, consider swapping out podcast time for lyricless music during the commute. Or perhaps swap out doomscrolling with doodling. Maybe, instead of listening to an audiobook or watching TV while you fold clothes, you could stare out the window, or hum a tune to yourself. Physical movement can also be helpful. Walking, swimming, running, and gardening are some great examples that can let us tap into the power of a wandering mind. 

For individuals, the invitation is to notice when your mind naturally wants to wander and what kind of space helps it do that well. For leaders, the question is whether your calendar reflects the thinking your role actually requires. For organizations, the challenge is to stop asking for innovation, foresight, and strategic judgment while rewarding constant execution.

If you have been telling yourself that a wandering mind means you are flawed, undisciplined, or incapable of strategic focus, coaching may provide a space to challenge that framework by noticing the pattern, reconsidering the story around it, and exploring the conditions that support your best thinking.

PS: I even have a term for in-session mental zoomies - I call it clearing. Once we clear out the jumbled stream of consciousness, we can usually settle in, become more present, and tap into the reflective, transformative work of coaching.

Sources and Additional Reading

The neuroscience and psychology behind this article have been simplified for accessibility, but the core ideas are grounded in research on large-scale brain networks, mind wandering, creativity, procrastination, and leadership. 

Research and References

  • Boyatzis, R. E., Rochford, K., and Jack, A. I. (2014). “Antagonistic neural networks underlying differentiated leadership roles.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, Article 114.
    This review connects leadership research with neuroscience on the antagonistic relationship between the Task Positive Network and Default Mode Network. It is especially useful for understanding why task-oriented leadership and social, emotional, visionary, or ethical leadership may draw on different cognitive modes.

  • Cheng, X., Yuan, Y., Wang, Y., and Wang, R. (2020). “Neural antagonistic mechanism between default-mode and task-positive networks.” Neurocomputing, 417, 74–85.
    This article explores the mutual inhibition between default-mode and task-positive networks through computational modeling. It provides a more technical explanation of why increased task-positive activity may correspond with reduced default-mode activity.

  • Christoff, K., Irving, Z. C., Fox, K. C. R., Spreng, R. N., and Andrews-Hanna, J. R. (2016). “Mind-wandering as spontaneous thought: A dynamic framework.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17, 718–731.
    This article frames mind wandering as part of a broader spectrum of spontaneous thought and helps explain why wandering attention is not necessarily wasted attention.

  • Baird, B., Smallwood, J., Mrazek, M. D., Kam, J. W. Y., Franklin, M. S., and Schooler, J. W. (2012). “Inspired by distraction: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation.” Psychological Science, 23(10), 1117–1122.
    This study is often cited in discussions of creative incubation and the “shower thought” phenomenon. It suggests that undemanding tasks may support certain kinds of creative problem-solving by giving the mind space to wander.

  • Irving, Z. C., McGrath, C., Flynn, L., Glasser, A., and Mills, C. (2022). “The shower effect: Mind wandering facilitates creative incubation during moderately engaging activities.” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 18(6), 1096–1107.
    This research explores why moderately engaging activities, such as walking or showering, may create useful conditions for productive mind wandering.

  • Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T., Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., Brown, C. L., and Shaked, A. (2014). “Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind.” Science, 345(6192), 75–77.
    This study explores how uncomfortable many people find it to sit alone with their thoughts, even for brief periods. It offers useful context for why unstructured thinking time may feel surprisingly difficult, even when it is valuable.

  • Chu, A. H. C., and Choi, J. N. (2005). “Rethinking procrastination: Positive effects of ‘active’ procrastination behavior on attitudes and performance.” The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(3), 245–264.
    This article distinguishes between passive procrastination and active procrastination. It is useful here because not every delay, pause, or departure from immediate execution has the same meaning or consequence.

Related Reading from Two Piers

This article is part of our Listening for the Signals series. You may also be interested in:

Erica D'Eramo