OK, you know this. You’re spending too much time answering emails. Getting interrupted by unimportant stuff. And worst of all, attending meetings, lots of meetings, sometime endless, pointless meetings.
So here’s a suggestion: spend more time in your cave, every day, no interruptions, to increase your creativity. And others on your team.
According to a recent FAST COMPANY article: “Creativity happens when you work independently [without distractions]. Individuals are really good at generating a whole lot of ideas, while groups are good at selecting, shaping and refining those ideas.”
That means, for example, when working on your business plan, to avoid groupthink, get people to think through their ideas BEFORE they come to the meeting. There’s no bigger time waster, in my experience, than long and often ineffective meetings that would have been far more productive if everyone had worked, really worked, on the problem previously. Have them — have yourself — work in their caves first, then get together around the campfire.
What do you think? Are YOU getting enough cave time…
Good luck!
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Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing, and implementation strategies.