I’ve been thinking a lot about Fred Wilson’s post a few days ago on his search for inspiration and the challenges he sometimes faces coming up with ideas for blog posts.
What was particularly interesting was Fred’s regular sources for inspiration are delicious/popular, digg, techmeme, hacker news and reddit.
The common thread is they’re all online resources. As much as there’s a tremendous amount of information on the Web, I think one of the major flaws among the digerati is they spend too much time online – be it reading, communicating, entertainment, etc.
The need to be in touch, connected, networked, online and aware of every conversation can be all-consuming. The digerati spend so much time engaged that they forget there’s a whole other world featuring all kinds of inspiration in all kinds of places.
It got me thinking that people who spend a lot of time online really need to step away from the keyboard…and breathe and think.
They need to stop looking for the next comment or conversation or blog post or intriguing start-up. It’s when you’re focused on whether to have a Chardonnay or a Pinot Grigio, or whether to take a bike ride or go for run, or whether to watch the Spain-Italy quarter-final or the Blue Jays-Pirates game that you really allow yourself to healthily disengage from the Web.
Then, your mind can start to wander and wonder about this and that. It’s then that ideas about blog posts, new adventures, desires, wants and needs start to bubble up to the surface.
If you call pull yourself away from the keyboard (and that includes your iPhone and Blackberry) for a healthy period of time, you will be pleasantly surprised about how much inspiration you’ll get from the world around you.
Coffee and conversations with friends and family can get you thinking about things in completely different ways; newspaper articles can prompt you to scribble down thoughts so you won’t lose them; and walking down the street to do an errand can get you to look at things in a new light.
Come on, give it a whirl. It’ll be good for you.
Next: Why reply right away when you can breathe, think and then click send.
More: Here’s an interesting story looking at how some employees are beginning to fight back against employers who give them Blackberries AND expect them to be available 24/7.
3 Comments
I think people take the Internet being 24/7 live too far, especially when you work online. If you have kids and a family then you really need to disconnect.
It’s funny you write this, in an age where those who are ‘always on’ either know that’s who they are – or the sane people who are asking why is it they are defined by their likes, replies, twitters, or plurks?
I began the social media experiment a few months ago, and now I am peeling myself away. I will still drop by for a social interaction from time-to-time, but I will not be beholden to it.
I actually asked a similar question on my blog a while back:
http://www.changeforge.com/?s=are+we+too+connected%3F
Re: Magnus, I think you have a wonderful point. I was reading the Daily Saint and he recommened a day-on and day-off type of routine.
I am now working on stepping back into the real world…
Hi Mark,
I have found your blog accidentaly through FriendFeed. I am (despite I am developing web apps) becoming a big fan of the offline world.
I do agree with your post. My take is here: http://soci.alism.us/2008/06/the-importance-of-being-offline/
2 Trackbacks
[...] For the first part of my “Think, Breath” series, click here. [...]
[...] I become. Julian Baldwin took a week off the FriendFeed never-ending conversation. Mark Evans is stepping away from the keyboard and looking for an inspiration. My mother has been disconnected for almost 10 years after she used [...]