Sometimes, I run out of ideas. I gaze out windows, I stare at paper pads, I squint at computer screens and I’ve got…. nothing. Not glimpse, not hint, not intriguing sniff of a useful idea. Sometimes a strong urge to take a nap but nothing useful for the task at hand.

When I hit that wall this weekend, I looked for something to read, something off the usual path, something to break my stride.

Thanks to a link shared by a friend, I read the text of a lecture, “Solitude and Leadership”, delivered in October, 2009 by author William Deresiewicz to the West Point first year class. Roughly in the middle of the talk, he said:

“Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself. You simply cannot do that in bursts of 20 seconds at a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter tweets…. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea… [and] defeat my desire to declare the job done and move on to the next thing.”

Point taken … and I need to get out a little more.

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/ .