I’ve been sharing with you some of my Thinking Strategically. We all know we should make time for this on a regular basis, but how does it come to be? How do you unwrap some of your best thinking “on-demand”?
How about not thinking about it at all?
Let’s see what we can draw from a recent experience. I had the grand privilege to travel with my Mom to Italy for 19 days in September. The sites were incredible, the food and wine delicious and the company of my Mom made all of this even more spectacular. I did not work. I did not check business e-mail. My assistant knew how to reach me, if needed.
I returned to work for a week and a day before departing on a trip to San Antonio to attend the Financial Planning Association’s annual conference. It was four days of greater speakers, stimulating topics and new acquaintances.
On the last day, in the last presentation, it hit me, out of the blue, a brainstorm, an idea, a different way of looking at my business. I scribbled down my thoughts in a notebook to preserve for future planning.
This was the seed of what would grow from my Thinking Strategically session.
What can we take from this? We can’t always get away for 19 days and then get dropped into such a stimulating environment. What we can do is this:
- Take a break! Walk away from your desk and let your mind unwind.
- Take a break! Long weekends or 19 day trips, whatever works for your lifestyle.
- Put yourself in stimulating circumstances. Attend industry conferences or participate in a mastermind or study group.
- Put yourself in stimulating circumstances of art, culture, music or just the sheer beauty of nature.
See what inspired thoughts come your way! If you’d like to share them, you can e-mail me at barbara@acceluspartners.com or comment below.