Second Cup: Good ideas take time

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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that being productive doesn't always look productive.

Good ideas take time, and true productivity is measured over the long haul.

But often, achieving a lot in the long haul doesn't mean filling every minute.

Today's tip comes partly from Cal Newport's new book, Slow Productivity.

In this book, Cal talks about how to achieve great things without burnout.

He opens Slow Productivity with a tale of someone who is important to me,

Professor John McFee of Princeton. Many years ago, I took McFee's famous non-fiction writing class.

I learned a lot from his discussions of his own life as a working writer.

One of McFee's most famous stories is about the Pine Barrens in New Jersey.

After compiling all his notes from traipsing around the forest,

he had some fairly serious writers block. So we wound up laying on a picnic table,

day after day for about two weeks. Finally, he realized that much of his reporting

could come back to one central character who could form the spine of what became a long New Yorker

piece. Cal notes that if you looked at McFee during those two weeks, spending his working hours

lying there, seemingly doing nothing, you would not have considered him to be terribly productive.

But that would be a mistake. McFee has been incredibly productive.

He's written around 30 books over his lifetime, including one that won the Pulitzer Prize,

in addition to teaching undergraduate writing for decades.

To produce his best work, McFee needed time and space to think.

Fortunately, he gave himself that space. And over the decades, lots of good work followed.

So what can the rest of us take from this?

One of the key realizations Cal tells us is that sometimes good ideas take time.

Yes, we have deadlines. Yes, sometimes you just have to move forward with something that isn't perfect.

Nothing is ever perfect. So if you are waiting for perfection, you will never do anything.

But it is okay to sit with an idea for a while and think about it.

And not necessarily go with the first thing.

Maybe the first thing can be incorporated into your later idea.

It is a stepping stone for getting there. But maybe it is not it. See how it feels.

When you realize that good ideas take time, that means you need to give yourself time.

And that means being okay with not doing something that looks productive every single minute.

Yes, you've got emails. You could set up some more meetings.

Or you could sit there. Go outside. Walk around. Think. Talk to some colleagues about ideas.

Even if it just looks like you are hanging out in the office kitchen.

You might not come up with something brilliant the first time.

In fact, you probably won't. Or the second time. Or a third time.

But eventually. And when it comes to executing on those good ideas, even a little bit does add up.

So just keep doing a little bit. Maybe it doesn't always look productive, but that's okay.

Real productivity doesn't always look productive in the moment.

But good ideas take time.

So embrace this slow productivity as Cal calls it. Over the long haul, it will be okay.

And you'll probably be happier.

In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening. And here's to making the most of our time.

Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,

you can reach me at Laura at LauraVandercam.com.

Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Media. For more podcasts from I Heart Media,

please visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Hey listeners. As we begin a new year, it's a great opportunity to think about what your

year of you could look like. Especially if going back to school is one of your goals.

Today's tip is powered by National University. An institution built around helping busy

professionals make progress without sacrificing their priorities.

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