Continuous Problem-Solving Is No Accident
In one of my earlier essays, I posited the maxim that agile is continuous problem-solving. Whether we create new designs, or system architectures, or navigate our way through organizational challenges, we need to generate brilliant ideas on demand. This is our job, and we have to be good at it, every step along the way.
The subject of keeping fit creatively is tied to productivity in most “booster” books, but productivity and continuous problem-solving are two different things. I’ve come to this conclusion over many years of what I call “living and exploring”. That’s why it’s been a pleasant surprise to come across a sensible book, written by the author who thinks along the same lines:
I’ll highlight just one essential idea from the book. This is about shifting the focus from time management to energy management. If we treat ourselves as mechanical robots with the unlimited capacity to produce good decisions and creative solutions, filling all the time slots in our schedules uptight, both for work and non-work, the crampiness will debilitate our creative powers, choices and decisions. No wonder that with such a non-stop life-style, we then find that a high-priority decision we made, or a technical solution we designed, has some crucial flaws. That’s why the author recommends something that I would call a holistic planning of energy consumption across all the areas of our life, not only at work. The book is filled with subtle observations, practical techniques and is indeed a feel-good read. Truly indispensable if you’re serious about keeping good health and creative (a.k.a. problem-solving) capabilities for many years to come.
“.. Many of us overlook this fundamental law of nature that every system requires energy to function, when it comes to our creative work. Because the energy we expend shaping ideas is invisible, we fail to realize that there’s a very real cost associated with every project we take on and every mental commitment we make.”
The universal law of energy conservation is pragmatic. If the energy is dissipated into many random directions, you’re losing out in the end. The draining gets hold of you insidiously. It might seem that all goes well, until at the age of 30 — 35+ your health crashes down, and sends pleas for help disguised as chronic diseases and fatigues.
I had to take some tough choices for the sake of holistic energy management earlier in life and put some of my creative pursuits on hold. Many of you who read this might have had similar experiences. Here’s the one piece of advice that I can give: stay away from stressing yourself out and cramming your day with the low-priority activities. More often than not, it’s a slow-paced life that keeps you in good shape to do just one high-priority thing that matters — and if it is work, let it be work. The prevailing mass narrative dictates that we should speed up. Thanks but no thanks. What we really need is to slow down.
Hopefully, this brief review will encourage you to grab The Accidental Creative (no, I don’t get any referral fees) and to apply those ideas and techniques to yourself. This book is very likely to be of great help, if you want to both keep good health AND exercise your creative powers to the fullest .
