Yesterday morning, Sunday, I couldn’t think of what to write for my next daily post. Normally inspiration flows easily, but sometimes it doesn’t.
Rather than look to “think my way out of it”, I went for a walk. To add to it, I love listening to stories, and currently listening to Norse Mythology on Audible, not only written by but also narrated by the author, Neil Gaiman. A cold day with a biting wind, yet pretty soon I was lost in the storytelling, I had escaped the day to day and was immersed into the world of Norse legend. As I came back inside, a hot cup of tea, a smile, then I sat down to write. First this short post, then several other pieces of writing and note-taking for future daily posts and other writing on my mind.
A repeated theme for me is to solve problems by not doing them, not thinking about them. It may seem counter-intuitive, but there is plenty of science (and art) around this being proven to work. At this point I could search my own archive for many links to this idea viewed through different prisms, but hey, it is Sunday, I’ll save myself some time today to, well, do nothing for the rest of the day 😉
So, for me what often works is often taking a walk (and, more often than not, without headphones, simply walking). In warmer weather, it can also be heading out for several hours for a bike ride.
In business, sometimes the same applies, the best way for an individual or team to solve a problem is to stop working on it, change what you are doing, change the environment, change the activity. Memories flood back of times I’ve been facilitating and stopped a team cold and taken them outside of whatever indoor venue they are in, sometimes taking them together for a walk, other times sending them off with instructions to do whatever they like for an hour or two, with the only instruction being to put the phone down (no texts, no emails) and to do something different.
What works for you to find inspiration to solve problems without thinking about them?