People ask me where I get the ideas for my blog posts. The honest answer is, I’m not sure where they come from but, I know when they come from. I get the best post ideas when my brain is not occupied with work. It never happens when I have a pencil and notepad, or when I’m sitting at the computer ready to type. Instead, the post ideas pop up during my morning walk, or when I’m driving in the car, or five minutes before I fall asleep at night. I’ve lost a lot of ideas because I had no way of scribbling them down. Why is idea generation so inconvenient?
The reason may be rooted in brain science. A friend of mine was telling me about some cognitive research that comes to the conclusion that we are not generally wired to do and to dream simultaneously. Visioning and tasking don’t happen side by side; instead, they take their turn. This makes sense to me. When I’m deep in production mode, I’m not creating a vision for what new things I want to do with my business.
We’ve all been deep into production mode lately. Everywhere you look, there is a mountain of new work to do.
At the same time, there is a tug toward the future. COVID is likely going to change our world for quite a long time. To adapt, we might have to change our association’s benefits, structures, mindset, and culture. Which means at some point we need to do the work of visioning. Maybe not now, in the middle of summer vacations. And not now, while staff members are working hard on producing a virtual conference for the first time. But, soon.
Soon, carve out time to step away from your to-do list. Let your brain take a break from producing for a while so you can start dreaming about the future.
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