The idea seemingly comes out of left field. All of a sudden you’re struck with a profound thought. An idea that spurs on creativity. And it’s something that never crossed your mind before. At least that you can remember.
The other day I’m talking with a friend about a few business ideas. He says, “I’ve been constantly thinking about it.” I knock him on his butt when I admonish him, “Well, stop it! Quit thinking about it.”
He thinks I’m about to start my usual sermon on taking action. He’s not the most action-oriented person I know, but he’s hardly alone in battling that challenge. But that’s where I took our conversation. He was shocked.
Small businesses are often very creative. Entrepreneurs, small business creators and owners, are among the most creative people on the planet. But sometimes they suffer what my friend suffers from – over thinking or too much thinking. Creativity is frequently sabotaged because people don’t consider the power of rest or relaxation in creativity. Business creativity is often helped by the distraction of rest.
“Give it a rest,” I tell my friend. “What do you mean? Give up on the idea?” he responds. “No, I’m not telling you to abandon the idea. I’m telling you to step away from it. You’re constantly thinking about it and trying to force it,” I say.
For the next half hour I admonish him to disconnect from the business idea so he can prepare his mind to accept solutions that he may not be able to recognize now. He’s so consumed with his business idea that he can’t find the best solutions for developing the best strategy to implement. For almost a month he’s been “consumed.” That’s his word for it. Consumed.
Dr. Phil would ask, “How’s that working out for you?” I’m not Dr. Phil, but I asked the question. Long pause. Silence. Very softly he said, “It’s not working.” Exactly.
Business people often comment that they’re constantly thinking about some issue, some challenge or some new idea. It’s a badge of courage. Or so they think. It demonstrates how committed they are to the idea. They think it’s how it should be. But, they’re wrong!
More often than not ideas and creativity comes out of nowhere.
Think of the ideas you’ve had in those times when you least expected it. It can happen while you’re shaving, when you’re in the shower, while you’re driving or in a variety of other mundane every day activities. It can also happen when we’re having a conversation about something that has nothing whatsoever to do with our “idea.” Something is said, or said in a way, that sparks this EUREKA moment for us. We often don’t know and can’t explain why an idea leaps into our mind. Sometimes, they just happen.
“Stop working so hard at it,” I tell my friend. In fact, quit thinking about it. We talk about the books he’s reading – all of which were designed (at least in his mind) to spark him to finalize a strategy for his idea. I suggest he stop reading those books. He’s associating each of these books with pursuing his idea so I tell him he needs to set those books aside for the time. I recommend a few historical books (he likes history). Read the story of the Louisiana flood of 1927. Why? Because it has nothing to do with his idea. It’s completely different.
Contrarian strategies are the order of the day when we’re trying to get unstuck. Or when we’re trying to be creative. Or when we’re struggling to develop a strategy. It seems counter intuitive to disconnect in order to make a more meaningful connection, but that’s exactly how it works.
Quite often our best ideas and solutions come when we stop thinking about it. Sir Issac Newton remarked that he discovered gravity by “constantly thinking about it.” I doubt that very much. If we could have followed him around I’ll bet we’d find that he spent many hours not thinking about it.
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