I recently read an interesting article from “Success” magazine on how your brain is really not a able to effectively function for eight hours a day straight. Pretty enlightening for our society that values putting in as many hours as possible at the office while neglecting pretty much everything else.
The series was tremendous, talking about health and wellness as well as how to gain success in life. It got me thinking however, how many people out there that have not gotten to that success tipping point are really able to use this as a tactic? When you are an average small business owner and you wear all the hats, can you really fit in some downtime?
Another post from Forbes, commenting on the guerrilla in your market, talked about the premise that doing the same thing everyday, you may not always see the changes taking place right in front of your eyes. So while some of us can’t afford to take that catnap everyday or join the four-hour workweek, here are their suggestions:
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- At weekly management meetings, talk about an idea or technique from another industry and how it might apply to your business.
- Visit www.ted.com to hear short presentations from some of the world’s best minds. Once a week, have someone watch a TED video and present a lunch-and-learn session for the rest of your staff.
- Spend 30 minutes a day studying news from several different sources.
- Take a day off from your business. No cell phones, no PDAs, no checking in to see what’s going on. You’ll be amazed at how this invigorates your thinking.
- Invite a business associate to lunch and talk about his or her business. This will force you to think about your own business in new and different ways.
What tactics have you used to step away to see the big picture?