Professor Mark Ritson has written his column for Marketing Week on setting aside time to think. Cal Newport agrees. I have previously written about Professor Newport’s fabulous book Deep Work, in which he advocates much the same sort of thing.
As I work in technology, where the pace and scale of change is unprecedented, I would have to agree this need to step back and contemplate is more important now than ever before: The sheer quantity of data to which we have access, and the ways in which companies are seeking to capture our constant attention means human focus is under assault in new ways that we do not yet fully understand. Whereas before one would have to go to the library to find things out, today it’s all searchably sitting in Google, waiting to be asked. And while you’re on your phone, there are hundreds of well-written distractions to take you away from your most important work. Learning how to focus is now a critical skill to master any thought, never mind just strategic thought.
I am not for a moment advocating that we stop consumption but I find myself becoming more and more conscious of how and what I consume. I am beginning to return to books and credible journalism as a source of input. I am not alone. Warren Buffett advocates reading 500 words a day, Bill Gates reads books widely, Elon Musk read two books a day as a child if you believe his brother. Reading a book is slow consumption, and it requires a specific type of focus that consuming on the internet, in its BuzzFeed bite sizes, does not demand. It is in reading that I am finding myself free to think.
The trick is to make the time to read though.