Quiet Time Isn’t a Luxury – It’s a Valuable Tool
In a post last week, I talked about the importance of “quiet times” in your day to help make you more creative and productive. An article in the Harvard Business Review laid out several scientific findings that help document the value of those times in combating the always-communicating, always-thinking-of-what-to-say-next frenzy we live under today.
Evidence suggests, for example, that quiet times restore our central nervous systems, resupply our energy stores, and better condition our minds to adapt and respond to our complex environment. At the end of Thursday’s post, I promised today I would share four ways to introduce quiet time into your workday to improve success and creativity.
Four Ways to Make Quiet Happen
1. Insert quiet time between—or even within—meetings.
Don’t let your day become unproductive because of a series of meetings. Build in gaps of five minutes or more during which you can mediate, reflect, or just think by yourself. It may even be beneficial to have everyone do that during a meeting in order to refresh, recharge, and think about the implications of what has been discussed.
2. Enjoy nature amidst the challenges.
There is something about the way nature keeps going about its business regardless of your participation. Creative thinking is just a little easier after two or three hours of wandering through something bigger than your problems.
3. Take a break from media.
We’ve talked about this one before, but it’s a great reminder. It is important to be “unavailable” at some point during our day, especially during family time. Turn off the email. Don’t check social media. If you do it for just a few hours every day, then the time you do spend on your job will be more productive and valuable.
4. Try a meditation retreat.
I can hear many of you saying something to the effect of “eeeew, no thanks.” Too bad. You might be missing an excellent chance to hone your listening and intuition skills. And a total immersion experience like this can help you bring out your thoughts.
Meditation isn’t some far-out mystic concept. Think of it this way. You have a lot of quality thought and opinion to bring to any situation. But your busy life keeps you playing “defense”—always responding to stimuli from others. Meditation helps ensure that your valuable contributions get the chance to surface.
I believe in this process. I think these periods of quiet thought and reflection will make me a better business person. The time I spend on my boat, out on the water, is an important part of strengthening my business acumen.
How to Find That Quiet Time
There is a pragmatic side to all this. There are only so many hours in the day. What do you have to give up to spend that time quietly? That’s easy: nothing but antiquated practices that are unproductive, anyway.
You see, we take this “time” thing pretty seriously at Superior. It’s ingrained into the fabric of each one of us. In everything we do, we try to make it as efficient as possible. And we work to pass those time (and cost) savings on to our customers too.
Although each client’s needs are different, there are always efficiencies we find that provide not only cost savings but also savings in time. Our technologies and individualized, process improvements create efficiencies for clients in their print supply chain and promotional product management; helping sales to accounting, and everyone in between.
We have taken pride for almost 100 years in helping people find the time in their workday for the things that really matter. We were founded in 1924 upon creating efficiencies to make time in the workday to increase sales and help our clients live their best lives.
I would like to find out if we can help you as well. If you are interested in creating efficiencies with your print supply chain and promotional product management, contact me today or reach out to one of our award-winning sales reps for a promotional item and print supply chain management review.
