How Goofing Off Makes You Productive [in 3 easy steps]
Ever been so focused on a problem you can’t fix, and everything just seems stuck? Creative Productivity is going to help... and that means "goofing off" in the right way.
Feel like you’re on a hellish hamster wheel of your own design, with the inner critic (AKA B!tch Bra!n) yelling “focus, focus, FOCUS!”
It happens to me, too.
Our lives in an upside-down moment of work-school-everything-from-home, our sense of time and ability to prioritize can seem like a wilted flower.
It seems this was the theme of the week with my coaching clients:
… one NYC Mom with a small child was so frustrated with her new tech sales position that everything she was working on ground to a halt.
...another woman, a pro technical writer was faced with major decisions in every project of her writing business, was stuck in “deer in headlights” mode.
...even my husband was so overworked that he was hitting the energetic wall by 2pm every day.
I’ll tell you what I told all of them:
Time to goof off! (with intention…)
To finish tasks and achieve our goals, we've been taught that more focus is the solution.
We rely on to-do lists, calendar reminders, noise-blocking headphones, and sometimes medication to help us concentrate—even though these tactics often don’t help us feel more productive or creative.
The truth, uncovered by my friend and brilliant author Dr. Srini Pillay in his book Tinker, Dabble, Doodle, Try, is that we need a special kind of unstructured free time to help our brains do our best work:
Instead of wrestling all of your brainpower for the 6th hour in a row, try these 3 tips to unstick your thinking and tap into the full power of your creative intelligence:
Tinker with a different idea. Step away from the computer or project you’re stuck with, and use your mind (or better yet, hands) to tinker with something else. This releases your mind to wander from a state of stuckness into a possibility frame of mind, triggering neural connections and new insights.
Dabble in a fun, creative hobby to disrupt your habitual and reactive thinking. It will relax your brain so you can find new solutions to old problems.
Doodling can help you tap into a different part of your brain, where visual and spatial abilities get to play. This helps your brain frequency to “think different” and remove obstacles and create opportunities and grow new inspirations.
The results were inspiring:
Brooklyn Mom discovered a huge burst of energy, finished a project she’d been thinking about for months, and (I think not coincidentally) got a surprise new order for her product!
I see this happen with clients a lot, and I’ve experienced it in my own business. When we have multiple projects and allow ourselves to move gracefully from one to the other, they get an “energetic breath of fresh air” and often new clients, work, or income magically appears.
The Writer Pro gave herself permission to cut her work day down to 45-minutes, took a long walk, and found the clarity she’d been hunting to craft an important legal letter that had been challenging her for weeks.
My clients often report back that after relaxing into the self-care they truly need, their brain quickly comes up with elegant solutions for old problems, leading to massive breakthroughs in business and life.
My own hubby, who has been juggling a lot lately, took himself on a bike ride, socially distance-visited a friend for the first time in 2 months, and came home re-inspired, excited, and got through a big work project that had been dragging on him for days.
Here’s the truth: your body is the home of your creative soul and spirit. We simply must give ourselves joy, pleasure, rest, and fun - in short, goofing off - so that our brains can get replenished and back up to speed.
This kind of coaching has been game-changing work with these clients and the other women I work with.
PS: Over the years I’ve been in a lot of visible leadership positions, including as a kind of well-being and personal development spokesperson, because of my film Super Size Me, and books like Radical Alignment and Women, Food, and Desire.
The pressure and scrutiny was intense. Almost unbearable at times. These days, I use my health coaching experience, artist practices, and positive psychology training to help emerging women leaders, entrepreneurs, public figures, and philanthropists.
If you think some conversation with me might possibly be helpful, you should reach out. People come to me for all sorts of reasons including:
how to navigate challenges,
make big decisions,
surface values,
get unstuck,
feel less isolated,
find meaning, and
improve work and family relationships.
I also run groups. They are particularly good for people who want to learn more about themselves and others, for people who want to be better leaders by increasing their emotional intelligence and ability to communicate clearly and listen fully.
If you're curious, don't be shy. Grab a spot to chat with me. We will just talk. And I'm fun and nice to talk to. I promise.
