I have just finished writing my fourth book.  It will be published shortly, and it's all about helping HR professionals become the business partners their organisations need them to be.  But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about my reframing of what I used to think of as procrastination, to what I now think of as incubation.

During the writing of this book, I would occasionally beat myself up for wasting time when I should be writing despite the fact that many of my "time wasters" were activities that fostered creativity and often inspired great bursts of output. For example, reading a book from my genre, going for a long walk, spending time in the garden, playing with my dog and...dare I say it, having a glass of wine with my husband.  Often after each of these activities I would have a burst of insight that would result in word count.

It's a bit like baking a cake. Once you do the initial work, you need to put it in the oven and let it cook. Opening the oven every 5 mins to check up on the cake will get your a poor result. Knowing that it takes between 35-40 mins to bake and just letting it be will get you more quality results. 

So, whilst I am allowing my ideas to bake, I can still do other things and let my thinking simmer away until something pops and I can capture it.  

In writing my latest book, this often manifested as 5000 word bursts of creativity...and ultimately, a new book.

This further got me thinking about thinking and what constitutes real work and what people think of as real work. I remember suggesting to a group of HR professionals one day that if they wanted to build their business acumen, they could read the Financial Review each day (let's face it, it's the daily habit of highly successful people....love that tagline).  

I got some serious push back with a few people suggesting that if someone saw them sitting at their desks, reading the paper, they would assume they have nothing to do and are not adding any value.  

And yet...I consider this real work.  Keeping abreast of competitor activities, understanding impact of relevant economic conditions, engaging in the world of business.  It takes no more than 20 mins a day, and I think...pretty important.

What about taking time out to just....think?   In many places I have worked in and with, meetings are booked back to back giving little or no time to adjust, think and prepare for the next meeting.  AND, unless you are disciplined about blocking "thinking" time in your diary, you can end up having no space at all for actually doing what the organisation hired you to do.  Think.

And yet, if I suggest to people that sometimes you need to push back from your desk, lean back, close your eyes and just think I get resistance around the perception of not working.   

I think it's time for a reframe around some of this resistance.

It's not procrastination it's incubation. Set a deadline, occupy yourself with some other tasks and let your mind do the work.

It's not being slack it's thinking.  Put aside time every day to think about the projects you are working on (and not on the train or drive to and from work or at lunchtime).  Schedule a walk, book a private meeting room, take some time out.

It's not being lazy it's maximising productivity.  There is a HEAP of research to say that when people take regular breaks, decent lunch hours and get up and away from their desks from time to time, they are actually more productive as a result.

I think it's as simple as giving yourself time to think, so you can perform at your best.  What do you think?

#makingworkwork