The Value in Distraction

A post that once again is inspired by work with my coaching clients.  I was recently engaged by an entrepreneur looking to launch another successful business venture.  Unlike most of my clients he came well-prepared for our first meeting with, amongst other things, a fairly comprehensive business plan and metrics.  Further to that preparation, his efforts transcended a mere business focus and also placed his venture into the context of his life experience and goals.  I was very impressed with the comprehensiveness of his starting point and his obvious focus and determination to succeed.  While I am a business and executive coach, not a life coach, I emphasize and reinforce that NO ONE effectively compartmentalizes the various components of their life - what happens at home impacts work and what happens at work comes home.  This client came to me already seemingly understanding that reality and trying to reach the right balance - if that is what we can call it - between the various components, passions, and commitments in his life.

One thing that also struck me in a different way was a component of his plan that called upon him to make better use of idle time.  In many respects, I read this section to mean that idle time was a negative to be managed or eliminated.  If there was idle time or some form of downtime to be had the intent was to focus this time productively, divert distraction into business reading, perhaps watching a televised business report, or something similar that would continue to round out business thinking, enhancing skills, and otherwise drive success of the new venture in the near to long-term.

What it did for me, however, was raise a question about why as a society or, perhaps more to the point, as business leaders we denigrate distraction and pure idle time.  Taking a page from my previous (I'd like to say current but can't!) Ironman training, it's clear that more and more training becomes counterproductive at some point in time.  After a while, there is not only diminishing marginal returns from all that extra effort but we can actually start to do real physical harm to ourselves by not letting our bodies recover properly between training sessions.  Moreover, most of us have to ramp down workouts several weeks prior to our "A" race in order to be rested and energized for the big test.  Perhaps some truly elite athletes - or masochistic types - do it differently, but for the vast majority of us the rule of thumb is more is not necessarily better.

My suggestion and recommendation on a business intellectual side then is to take the same approach as we would in exercising our physical selves.  Do not discount distraction and idle time.  Rather see it as a way of resting and recuperating your intellectual faculties for the next big push.  I also suggest that you NOT structure this idle time.  I often recommend structured time in one's work calender for reflection and assessment of past efforts and planning for the next go.  That reflective time is different than idle time.  Perhaps the best way to think about idle time as eyes wide open REM sleep.  As to the form of this distraction I suspect the sky is the limit and we may not even recognize when we are doing it.  It could range from absentmindedly doodling on our notepads in a meeting, to zoning out in front of our TV's at supper time, to playing a game on our smartphone.  The truth is our minds need a break just as much as our bodies do in order to be as effective as we believe they should be when the real crunch time comes.

So my admonition to you is to allow yourself the opportunity to be distracted, to enjoy some true idle time, without feeling like you are wasting precious time.  Truth is you need that time to re-energize, refresh and renew for the next big effort.

Go ahead.  Build that Lego Death Star you've always wanted to. 

Or read a few more of my blog posts.  They could be pretty distracting too!


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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC
TEC Canada Chair/Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.