…is a helpful way to get some clarity on things.
In working with people and situations we often want ‘the answer’ so we can get on with things. What’s interesting is that sometimes, it seems, the more we look for and require/demand an answer, the further it escapes our grasp.
We’ve all had the experience of an answer coming from, ‘out of the blue’ usually caused by some unintentional drifting: working on something different, finishing the meeting and putting the question away until tomorrow, or just giving up for now.
Putting some intentional drifting into our daily toolbox can sometimes accelerate this ‘out of the blue’ resource.
Wander aimlessly either mentally or physically. I periodically take what I call, a ‘cool hunt’ day, to visit and wander unfamiliar neighbourhoods or drive out of town along the back roads and through small towns.
Look at adjacencies, instead of staring directly at a question or problem. Sometimes an answer or solution is not directly in front but somewhere on the periphery. If we don’t spend a bit of time drifting there, we might not see it.
An early mentor once mentioned to a group of us to “leave your strongly held beliefs and firmly held opinions at the door for now. You can pick them up again on your way out if you still want them.” Leaving our judgment and criticism behind for a while might give us a chance to see other options, opportunities, and possibilities instead of just the single answer or solution we’re so desperate to find.
Drifting, in all its many guises, is not just a motorsport but a possible different route to answers and solutions.
Written while listening to Estas Tonne
One of the great things I came across over the last few weeks. Lex Fridman and Andrej Karpathy.
William Kerr And associates 