About six weeks ago, I was in Irvine, CA on business and I scheduled breakfast with a fraternity brother. Since I’m usually awake at 3am when I’m on the West Coast, I arrived about an hour early and learned that our meeting place was closed (a movie scene was being filmed there, which was kind of cool). So, I sent a text to my friend that the place was closed, asking him for another recommendation. Being a courteous host, he found another place and wrote: “I’ll be right there. I don’t want you to have to wait for me.” My response surprised me: “Take your time. I do my best work waiting.”
It’s true. I came up with the idea for Vector Firm while sitting in the lobby of a Crown Plaza in Amman, Jordan. I decided how to propose to my wife while waiting on a flight at O’Hare. And I wrote the outline to this post while waiting on Matt for breakfast.
Why does this happen? Why did I spend hours as an engineering student unsuccessfully trying to solve homework problems, and then have the answer come to me while I was waiting for my Little Caesar’s pizza? Why did the concept of “sales” sink into my consciousness while waiting on coworkers at a sushi restaurant in Tampa? I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with the thoughts below.
When I’m waiting …
- I’m out of task mode. Most of us live in task mode. Even worse, we’re usually in responsive task mode because of the expectation of immediate replies – we’re always behind schedule and can rarely justify taking time to think. When I get out of task mode, my head feels settled. Not clear but settled. When my head feels settled, then ideas happen.
Recommendation: Schedule this time. I’m serious – add a recurring appointment to your calendar that requires you to get out of task mode and think. Call it Creative Time or My Time or Happy Hour – I don’t care, just add it to your calendar. I use Fridays, but most people don’t need a whole day. Try an hour per week, and then increase it if possible. - I have a finite amount of time. When I know that I’ll boarding a flight in 20 minutes, I’ll make a game with myself: “Ok, you’ve got 20 minutes to write that article for Security Business.” And I’ll do it. No kidding – something that would typically take me a couple hours gets done in 20 minutes because I focus on nothing else. I call it my mind sprint. (For the record, I proof-read and find a ton of typos later, but that’s the easy part.)
Recommendation: Next time you have 10 or 20 minutes, challenge yourself to a mind sprint. Give yourself one objective that will typically take four to five times as long, and just do it. You’ll be amazed how fast you can be, and how great your work is. - I’m playing with the house’s money. Have you ever won money while gambling? Maybe you brought $200 to a blackjack table and suddenly were up to $600, and then you followed Uncle Fred’s advice and stuck the original $200 in your pocket? Now, you’re playing with the house’s money – you’ve got nothing to lose. Pretty liberating, isn’t it? (BTW, Uncle Fred is a fictitious persona of that relative we all have that thinks they’re Rainman in the Vegas scene.)
When I’m waiting for someone, I feel like I’m playing with the house’s money. I feel like I have time that has been given to me as a bonus … and it feels awesome. When I’m in that mode, I take chances and think more openly.
Recommendation: Run with this feeling. If you feel on top of the world because you’ve got an extra 15 minutes, don’t reply to an email or update your CRM. Use your creative juices to think about a new market to pursue or a different way to use LinkedIn or a better opening exercise for your presentations or whatever – something big and creative and impactful to your business.
Try these recommendations, and when you think of the idea that closes the whale you’ve been chasing while waiting for your latte at Starbucks, send me an email – I love hearing those stories.
