Are you giving yourself time away from your work problems so that you can solve them more creatively? Yes, you need to stop thinking about them in order to actually get anything creative to happen.
It’s true. And that means you need to build downtime into your work day. Unfortunately, that’s harder and harder to come by because of all the devices we carry around and the availability of wireless hotspots that make us feel like we need to be connected. That’s the message in this article I highly recommend called What Happened To Downtime? The Extinction Of Deep Thinking And Sacred Space.
I’m a prime example, right now. I often like to stare out the window on planes and get some of that problem solving done while in flight.
But today, I’m behind on a few things. So here I sit in 16F on my way to the Philanthropy Midwest conference, connected to the wireless on the plane, working through the to-do list. But I won’t be tomorrow night on the way home. I’m reserving that for staring into space and seeing what kind of bright ideas pop as a result.
How can you build more space for deep and creative thinking into your work life? Share your ideas in the comments.
