059: Creativity = Slow Down

Brian Rutenberg, reducing distractions, group-written reports, and giving it all a rest

Boredom is jet fuel for creativity

—Brian Rutenberg, Clear Seeing Place

It started toward the end of last summer. At first, it seemed like a mild tic: I started doing a quick half-skip as I stepped out of the door of my house. It felt a bit playful and, at the time, I thought, oh, this is because I’m happy that I’m not socially distancing anymore.

Then, it turned into a half-skip/half jump. It was just a stylized way to take the two and a half steps between my door and the driveway in one go.

Then it became a half-skip/half-jump/short jog. Every time I left the house I did this, and I did it whether I was wearing three inch heels, on my way out, or flip-flops on my way to put something on the clothesline, or my running shoes on my way to . . . actually go jogging.

At some point I realized this was not just a quirky way to exit my ho…