•Inattention has a negative relationship with real-life creativity.•Positive daydreaming is negatively correlated with inattention, while negative daydreaming is positively correlated with inattention.•Positive daydreaming mediates the negative relationship between inattention and real-life creativity, while negative daydreaming does not.•Positive daydreaming may contribute to both bottom-up and top-down processes of creative thinking. For decades, a growing body of literature has suggested that inattention is related to creativity (positively, perhaps), and this relationship is probably mediated by daydreaming or mind-wandering. However, given the heterogeneity of daydreaming and the complexity of creativity, this relationship can be perplexing. The goal of the present study was to explore the mediation roles of types of daydreaming (i.e., positive and negative) and processes of creative thinking (i.e., idea generation and idea selection) simultaneously in the relationship between inattention and real-life creativity by testing a theorized multiple mediation model. Our findings from a sample of 555 undergraduate students showed that: (a) positive daydreaming (i.e., positive-constructive daydreaming), followed by idea generation, mediated the negative relationship between inattention and real-life creativity; and (b) positive daydreaming, followed by the idea selection, also mediated the negative relationship between the inattention and real-life creativity. However, negative daydreaming (i.e., guilty-dysphoric daydreaming) did not play any mediation role in this relationship. We further found that (c) idea selection, as a single mediator, mediated the negative relationship between inattention and real-life creativity. Our results demonstrated the positive relationships between positive daydreaming and both bottom-up and top-down processes of creative thinking. The current study might contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between inattention and creativity and highlight the heterogeneity of daydreaming.