Are Your People Too Busy to Think?

Portia Stewart, 6/18

I usually wake up wired for sound. It can be a bit annoying on vacations or weekends, when you’d typically think it’s time to rest. Usually it’s because I have 10 projects going and I’ve suddenly remembered three more things I want to do and there may be a fourth out there that I hadn’t thought of yet but I’m suddenly inspired to do it today.

The brain is a funny thing, and I see a lot of evidence that many people are struggling. Feeling overwhelmed, foggy, rushing from one task to the next. I believe this is a piece of the puzzle behind The Great Resignation­—creative thinkers and knowledge workers absolutely rely on time and space, and many aren’t getting enough—or any at all.

Read any article about the job market and it’s very clear it’s not one single industry being affected. Talking with friends and family, the names and business change but I hear the themes stay the same as they talk about their work.

An a-ha moment for me: When I thought about the most amazing things I’ve made, the ones I’ve received the most praise for, they all come back to space and time.

The space to think up the thing.

The time to let it percolate.

The space to imagine it again and again until it works.

The time to do it again and again until it’s something I’m proud of.

An example: A few years ago I took a picture of my daughter’s dance team. I loved it so much I wanted to recreate it as a watercolor.

I painstakingly sketched it again and again until it was just right. So many erases and resets.

Mid-way through painting, I made a fatal error (something that’s hard to do with watercolors, so you know it was a really big mistake).

I remember sitting on my living room floor weeping. I symbolically tore it to pieces.

Then I started over.

Space and time.