Letting it develop slowly: the rebellion against our results driven & productivity obsessed world

My best ideas come one of two ways.  One is the lightning bolt where an idea arrives, brilliant in it’s fully formed wonderfulness.  The other, which happens far more frequently, is a slow burn: one where an idea emerges from the depths of my mind, vague and indistinct.

I feel it’s taken me far too long to accept that whilst these slow burn ideas can be encouraged to develop, I don’t get to dictate the schedule.  They simply take time and if I am to be true to myself, I should be bold in allowing space for the idea to percolate and trust it’ll get where it needs to be when it’s ready.

That’s so hard though.

Especially when I spend my days constantly battling against the narrative that we should be productive all the time.  Being busy is a badge of honour.  And also living in a world were results are prioritised all the time over the quality of process.

Against that backdrop, it feels like a rebellious act to let ideas develop at the pace that suits the process, not any external demand.

Of course, there’s some situations where ideas just need to form as there is an external deadline to meet.  In those situations, a lightning bolt would be amazing (but extremely rare).  Otherwise just getting something done, something created that is good enough is the aim.  Occasionally the external deadline matches the natural pace of the evolving idea.  That’s a lovely place to be in, but it is also quite rare.

Not all of my ideas have external deadlines though.  Not unless I set them for myself, which I know from years of failing to meet them is a total disaster.  Whilst I am very accountable to myself in many ways, if I put a timebound demand on something I’m working on, my inner toddler tends to throw a tantrum and it not only means the deadline is ignored, but usually sets the work further back than if I’d not bothered to be strict with myself.

I’m sure, with some determination, I could shift that mindset but it feels like it would take a load of work and it bores me even to consider it.  Therefore, I need to go with the flow; accept that imposing SMART goals on my own projects isn’t workable and find better ways to motivate myself.

One of those is to allow space for things to percolate.  It’s counterintuitive to the term “maverick” but it feels just that to do this.  I’m rebelling against our productivity obsession and creating space for some magic to happen.

I’d love to tell you that I clear days and days of my diary so that I can float about percolating fabulous ideas.  That, sadly, is far from the truth.  But a lot of my ideas, whether it’s a new course or programme I want to develop, the book I’m currently working on or a new piece of beadwork (which is purely for fun), don’t need days and days of focus in one go.  OK maybe the book does, but that’s currently at proposal stage so it can be broken down into bits more easily.

What I allow myself time for is an occasional 10 minute day dream where those ideas start to take shape.  And then an hour or so to dive a little deeper and move them further forward.

Giving myself that occasional space, often snatched moments of time, is seriously good for my soul, as well as being good for my business and creative practice. 

The idea of being inwardly maverick can be applied more broadly too.  I was listening to Mary Portas’ Beautiful Misfits podcast again (which was one of my recommendations in last month’s Monthly Musing newsletter), and Jude Kelly was on talking about being maverick around self care and looking after ourselves.  It really chimed with me. 

As a feisty, independent woman sometimes I can feel a bit pissed off that I need to make time for looking after myself.  Like it goes against the story of me as friendly yet headstrong warrior, striding forth and making cool stuff happen.  With that narrative, the sense that I also need to gently nurture myself to continue to thrive feels like a weakness and an indulgence.

Before you tell me… I know it’s not a weakness.  Of course it blooming isn’t!  But there is a little voice that needs quietening occasionally so that I can make sure I’m putting my oxygen mask on first.

The word Maverick is hugely useful here.  Not only because I seriously love both Top Gun films and, although the pic bears little connection to most of this blog, I couldn’t help showing off me in my Maverick costume, living my best life after having just completed a Fancy Dress Friday with Joe Wicks, back in those strange days of lockdown. 

Anyway, I digress.  Apart from the joy I find in watching cheesy films about fighter pilots, the word maverick also fits perfectly with my sense of self as a playful joker.  It’s not a role I get to play all the time, but it’s the one which comes up with the best ideas and perhaps is where I’m the happiest.

To apply that sense of gentle rebellion to the act of looking after oneself, works brilliantly for me.  Makes it less mother hen and more mischievous… and let’s face it, far sexier.

So there we have it.  I’m on a mission to continue to be more internally maverick, both in how I work and innovate and also in how I look after myself.  Feels empowering!

Care to join me?

Here are a few pointers to explore what might be useful in helping you be more maverick:

Think of an idea or a plan you’ve got cooking in your mind.  Maybe it’s an idea for a project or a plan for a change in life somehow.  Ask yourself, if you’re being as kind to yourself as you can be, how should you work on developing this idea?

If you were able to snatch an amount of time to let your inner gentle rebel free, what might you do?  Doesn’t matter if it’s 10mins, an hour or a day, although, of course the longer you get, the more you’ll get friendly with your maverick within.

Is it possible to schedule a time for this in the next week?

What is it about the words “self care” that feel a bit uncomfortable to you?  (If you’re answering “nothing, Sarah” then you are doing brilliantly and need not read on😉).  Write down, or capture in some way, 3 words that relate to that discomfort.  If you were to rebel against that, how could you go about it?

How would you encourage a friend to be maverick in looking after themselves?  How can you apply that to yourself?