Innovation Blog

Innovator — Get to work, do nothing!

By Shlomo Maital

Writing in this week’s issue of Bloomberg Business Week (August 3), in the Management segment,  Karen Duncum reveals a key secret of innovation — ideas come not when you are pressing, stressed or trying to have them, but rather when you are relaxing, chilling out and basically doing nothing.   Innovators who do not regularly schedule such ‘down time’ (which is really productive ‘up time’) will miss out on a lot of productive creative thinking.

Notes Ms. Duncum:

Over the years many of the finest managers I’ve known have confided to me what they regard as their deepest, darkest secret. Their confessionals are strikingly similar and run along these lines: “People see me as a very driven person, but what they don’t know is that my downtime is when I do a lot of my real problem solving.”

Former FED Chair Alan Greenspan used to block off big chunks of time in his calendar, which could easily have been filled for 18 hours a day, so that he could reflect and think.  The results may have been disastrous — he singlehandedly created the housing bubble — but at least the process was laudable.

So, innovator, try this:    Zoom in on your problem, define it very well, then bury it in your subconscious.   Go for a run, a long walk, watch a movie, read a novel, play with your kids, go home early from work, take your wife out to dinner, or spoil yourself with something you love doing.    Then watch how your brain will surprise you, coming up with a great idea seemingly from nowhere, when you least expect it.

Here are Ms. Duncum’s concrete suggestions regarding “do-nothing” strategies:

● Feet-on-the-Desk Interludes:  Spend quality time with your feet on your desk…

● Put on Your Thinking Cap: Setting aside time for the specific purpose of “doing nothing” can train your mind to be open to the process.  Practice doing nothing….

● Create a Private, Contemplative Space: Experiment with varying locations, times of day, and even your current energy level and mood.

● Let Go Via What You Enjoy: Take a pastime you enjoy and incorporate it into the playground equipment of your business mind. With regular use and practice, it may turn into your own idea factory.

● Daydream: Pay attention when you drift away, if even for just a few moments. Out of random contemplation can emerge “Eureka!” breakthroughs.  Write them down.

● Capture and Extrapolate: If you find that writing thoughts down breaks the spell, let ideas flow by rolling them off your tongue and into an audio recording.

● Transform Your Ideas into Practical Solutions: Don’t stop with ideas. Use your conscious mind to practice how to implement the ideas your subconscious tosses at you.  Even if you don’t implement them, get into the habit of “feet on the ground” thinking that joins “head in the clouds” ideation.