Ever noticed your best ideas come when you don’t have a pen?

Hi there,

Mid-term break is here. I’ve had a couple of half-days this week and generally the pressure is off for me as people don’t tend to plan training for mid-term. Some of that time is with the kids, but yesterday I went for a walk and I remembered a great contact that I haven’t thought about in a while who can help me with a problem I have.

Taking a moment away from meetings, calls, and general busyness is important. It leaves time for something most of us rarely do: deep thinking.

When I talk about different working environments, I usually describe three familiar ones: 

• Commons: The energetic and social office space

• Caves: The quiet space where you can focus 

• Collaboration: Where teams align and decide together

But there’s a fourth. One that doesn’t appear on calendars or meeting invites: Contemplation.

It shows up when everything else goes quiet. On a walk. driving, exercising, staring out of a train window. It’s not about forcing progress. It’s about giving your brain space to breathe and letting it work in the background.

Some of the biggest breakthroughs don’t happen in a meeting room or behind a screen. They happen when you take a moment to do nothing at all.

So this week, think about the problem that’s been niggling in the back of your mind, the difficult stakeholder, the team member who isn’t performing, the blocker that’s stopping progress. Go for a walk, read a book about that thing, or listen to a podcast about it. Give your brain the space it needs to work it out.

Seriously - Walking and thinking about work IS WORK and it’s OK to get paid for it. (and worst case scenario, you got a bit of exercise!)

Here’s to low stress success,

James 

(P.S. Block out an hour in your diary now for the walk - otherwise it won’t happen. Treat it like an important meeting and stick to it!)

(P.P.S - Here are a couple of useful books if you want to supercharge your thinking

• The Creative Problem Solver by Ian Atkinson

• Crucial Conversations by Granny, Patterson McMillan

• Leading Impactful Teams by James “I’m going for a walk” Louttit 😉)