Dedicated Ideation Time

Domain: Personal Effectiveness - Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

How much of your time do you spend on focused problem solving? I'm not talking about quickly responding to emails to put out fires and pseudo-emergencies. I mean how much time do you spend on things like innovation, team culture, long-term strategy, etc.?

It's far too easy and common to find ourselves lost in administrative tasks and stuck in a reactive mode but neither of these states does much for the growth of our business. To think bigger, we need dedicated time to think without interruption and without the pressure to respond or conform to what our peers are doing. This allows us to move from a reactive state to a more proactive and innovative one.

Embrace discomfort

Given the pace of work today and the premium placed on "peak productivity", this may feel like an uncomfortable exercise. We are going to recommend that you spend at least an hour a week in which you are disconnected from your team and devices.

It's easy to see this as a non-productive waste of time, but that is thinking small. As leaders, we need to be addressing the large complex problems facing our business. That includes long-term strategic items. With that in mind, try reframing this exercise as time dedicated to strategic thinking.

Some weeks, you may not come-up with much. This is normal and completely fine. This time alone still allowed you to free up some mental bandwidth. If you stick with this exercise on a weekly basis, the ideas will come and you'll transform your business in a way that an hour of email replies never will.

Find the time

Once you've decided to move past the discomfort, you'll want to find a consistent time to schedule this weekly session. We recommend two considerations for selecting this time. First, when are you at your most creative and/or focused? Second, when are you least likely to be interrupted?

Find this time, and then stick to it religiously. This means when the time comes, you don't opt to work on email instead. You disconnect and put your attention towards focused thinking and problem solving.

Create space

There are a few more things we can do to avoid interruptions. To start, let your team know you are generally not available during this time.

Next, find a place other than your desk to conduct this deep thinking. This reinforces the message to your team that this time is sacred. It also distances you from your devices (which you will leave at your desk) in order to avoid digital disruption.

I know a business owner who will fly across the country once a year to have a weekend of deep thought. This is an extreme version of finding dedicated space, but it works for her. Since we are recommending that you do this weekly, you don't need to leave the state, or even the building. Simply finding a conference room or private area in your building works great.

Go analog

You may be thinking that you want your device for jotting down or researching the ideas that come to you. This is exactly why we are leaving our devices at our desk. This is not research time. You are not going to design a full implementation strategy in this one session. Researching things online also means we are taking in other's ideas and suggestions…not coming-up with our own.

With that said, there is a great benefit to transferring your thoughts or ideas. Bring a notebook and pen in order to write-down the key insights that you will want to further explore later. This helps to empty your mind so that it can focus on more creative ideas.

Play with the format

You've done all the prep-work, now it's time to get thinking.

You can still play with different formats here. You might decide to focus your attention on a very specific and complicated problem you are facing. You can also take a broader approach in which you think openly about long-term strategy and business needs. I recommend doing both from time to time depending on your businesses current needs and priorities.

Follow-up

The time for turning thoughts into action comes after this dedicated ideation time. After the session, look over the key insights or ideas that you came-up with. Now you are free to conduct market research, seek feedback from trusted business partners and further develop the ideas.

Thank you for reading. My hope is always that you've found something helpful and easy to implement.

This week’s action items:

1. Adopt the mindset that this is time for strategic development, rather than "down time".

2. Schedule a reoccurring time that you can dedicate to this task.

3. Find the right space to minimize distractions and maximize your ability to think deeply.

4. Bring a pad and pen but leave the digital devices behind.

5. Use this time to focus both on specific problem and long-term strategy in order to find what is most effective for you.

6. After these sessions, engage your team to turn revelations into action items.

7. Bonus: Read the lecture 'Solitude & Leadership' by William Deresiewicz for a deeper dive on the "why" of this topic.