The Work of Stepping Away

Walk into a room and find Eugene Schwartz, one of the twentieth century's greatest copywriters, with a timer set, having just stopped work mid-thought to stare out of the window. Zoom back centuries and find Mozart on a long walk, or idling over a game of billiards. Surely they should be busy, practising their craft? They are.

These two geniuses, in their own right, are processing. Their subconscious is working on the problem. Their sleep furthers that work.

The pattern is one of doing - away - doing.

During the away times, reflection draws the pieces together. Information is embellished, and connected to other information. How many writers and thinkers found their inspiration in nature and brought it back into their work? St Francis de Sales drew almost the whole of the Introduction to the Devout Life from it; bees, birds, gardens - the spiritual life read off the natural one. And how many discoveries arrived not at the desk but away from it: Tesla conceiving the alternating-current motor on an evening walk, reciting poetry, drawing the design in the dirt with a stick.

The key is the frequency of these step-away moments. Which presupposes a tendency to take them.

The opposite would be an unrelenting focus on the problem: getting too close to it, losing perspective entirely, and missing out on the very thing that made so many of the greats so great.

And yet today, how many of us have the capacity to step away?

And yes, it is an issue of capacity. Most people, particularly those I encounter running businesses, are at capacity.

You'd think that would make stepping back obvious. It isn't. Being at capacity is a negatively compounding loop that holds you there, mercilessly.

Which brings us to this essay, and to the purpose of any writing, really: it is the author's one way to remind, encourage, inspire.

We need capacity. In that capacity, we need to encounter a breakthrough — no matter how small. Then we move to the next challenge, step back, process, and return. This rhythm is the most leveraged, fastest way not only to achieve your goals, but to set aligned ones in the first place.

Do you see how "productivity" simply manages your limited capacity? It doesn't invite stepping back. It invites a framework built around the status quo.

What I am suggesting here is altogether different; which is what makes it difficult to do. Common sense isn't common practice.

So if you read this and feel resistance, notice it. Note it. The purpose of this essay isn't only to remind and inspire; it's to invite you to sit with that resistance. Because that feeling, that thought, is your focus for your first breakthrough moment. It is what's driving your current rhythm.