Certainly creativity extends well beyond thinking into the execution of ideas but I would say even execution phases must be interspersed with regular thinking and reflection times in order to maximize the creative process.
B.C. Forbes, the famous business magazine publisher went so far as to suggest that thinking time was so important that it ought to be scheduled on the calendar. And Forbes wasn’t talking about Saturday or days off. He considered it such an integral part of business that he considered it worthy of schedule during a business day if not every business day.
In Forbes article, “In Budgeting Your Days, Allow Time For Thinking” he talks about railroad mogul E.H. Harriman. Apparently Harriman liked to make unannounced visits on his executives. He reportedly liked nothing more than to find the managers with their feet propped up on their desk, apparently doing nothing. Harriman assumed the employee was taking time to think.
Forbes continues…”Do we always keep in mind the simple basic fact that all success springs from thinking? Not only success but everything else first comes into being as a thought in some man’s mind….If we can only get it firmly into our heads, and will eternally keep it at the forefront of our mind, that thinking is the material of which success is made, will it not influence us so to plan our days and our weeks that we shall set aside more time for calm, sustained thinking?”
IBM founder Thomas Watson Jr. famously kept a giant “THINK” sign in his office. Eventually it became the company motto and appeared in offices and factories all over the country.
I believe this is actually the genius behind the personal coaching movement that has swept the country in the last few years. If a coach can just get their clients to spend time thinking creatively every week about their goals and challenges it can make a huge difference in their level of achievement. The coach may come up with a good idea now and then but the real break through comes when they create an environment that gets their clients thinking productively themselves.
My image of Donald Trump is that of a doer, an activist, a mover and shaker, and with out a doubt he is that. But Trump starts out each of his days thinking. In his book “Think Like A Champion” he writes:
“Every morning I read a variety of newspapers, from local to international. This group includes the Financial Times of the U.K., the New York Times, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and more. Then I tune into the morning news programs on television. By the time I get to the office, I have a good overview of everything that’s happening in the world. Considering what has been happening lately, this kind of attention is absolutely necessary. It’s also necessary for us to begin to think creatively.”
Trump tells another story later in the book about a copywriter who spent most of his time looking like he wasn’t doing anything. The guy would sit for hours gazing out the window. This drove his co-workers crazy, so much so that they finally complained to the boss. The boss became very interested in the report asking how long this behavior had been going on. He then told the co-workers to see if they could get him coffee or lunch…anything to make sure his day wasn’t interrupted. This actually infuriated the colleagues more! Then the boss explained, “The last time he acted like this, and the time before, and the time before that, he came up with ideas worth millions of dollars. So whatever you do, don’t disturb him!”
And Trump later writes, “Sometimes we get so distracted that it’s hard to tune out enough to be able to tune in at all. We are bombarded by outside information all day. The challenge here is to find the quiet time to be able to assimilate our own inside information in the midst of all the cacophony. You have to unplug before you can plug yourself back in. I’m a busy guy, but I set aside quiet time every morning and every evening to keep my equilibrium as it should be-which is always centered on my own path.”
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