You owe yourself a timed reset

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 6 seconds

It’s valuable to reset every so often. I’m speaking towards businesses here, though personal resets are good, too.

While best practice is to keep up as trends change, it’s impossible to track with a trend 100%. No matter how many blogs you subscribe to, charities you donate to, conversations you have, you’ll never know it all. It’s just something we accept.

Since you can’t know everything, even on one topic, be calculated and devote some time to nothing. After all, if you can’t know everything, why not advise yourself on nothing?

One good, semi-proven way is to take a reset. You don’t have to go as far as Stefan Sagmeister , who takes a whole year off every seven years (video below). Try a week off. Let your employees naturally discover new tools, tactics, and strategies. There’s a good chance, from anecdotal evidence at least, that those things will help your business. If not directly, then through your staff’s improved morale – not to mention your own.

One last thing: be smart, time your reset. Schedule follow-ups with trusted peers after your reset to discuss your learnings and get suggestions on how to apply them. Encourage your employees to follow suit. Temptations will arise, and the reset will become an appealing full-time career. Just don’t forget why you’re doing it in the first place.