This week’s focus: This is the 150th edition of Business Rocks. Each edition takes about 30 minutes for me to think about, develop and write – although I then need a further 30 minutes to find the best set of song lyrics! The key, for me, has been to set aside a quiet hour each week so that I can reflect and think.
All great businesses and all great products and services start with an idea. And, as with Business Rocks, the creativity that is necessary for business development work is based on finding the regular time and space so that you can let the ideas flow, evolve and turn into action.
Creativity doesn’t respond well to immediate time pressures, but it does respond well to discipline, persistence and effective time management. That’s when you start the process that leads to unexpected ‘aha’ moments and new ideas.
This means that you need regular time away from your phone, email and social media. Last week, I read a report that research had shown that these “distractions” can reduce your IQ by 10 points, while a recent article in the Washington Post that reported that people who seek solitude are more creative.
In other words, healthy doses of “me time” aren’t just good for you on a personal level, but they can also have a direct and positive impact on the performance of your business!
How well are you organising your diary so that you can find the time, solitude and space to reflect, be creative and develop the ideas that will be critical to the future success of your business in 2018 and beyond?
Off The Record: Simple Twist Of Fate by Bob Dylan
This is among my favourite ever song lyric. I’m not entirely sure why I’m so attracted to it, but it feels like a vignette from a movie and the idea that doing something so simple, such as opening a window, can trigger so many thoughts and feelings both rings true and, I think, is hugely insightful of Dylan.
He awoke, she wasn’t there
He told himself he didn’t care
Pushed the windows open wide
Felt the emptiness inside
A feeling to which he just could not relate
Brought on by a simple twist of fate
© Stuart Cross 2017. All rights reserved.