Love this! I (perma) borrowed* a copy of the book On Writing by Stephen King from my friend Mike this weekend… such a great read! Even if you aren’t a writer or a fan of his books, what he shares can be applied to so many areas of business.
One of my favs is the fact that he doesn’t actually know what his books will be about before he writes them. Say what?!
He comes up with an idea or a scenario and then starts writing to see what will happen. He is just as surprised and intrigued writing the story as we are reading it. <— wow!
I’ve heard George RR Martin (Game of Thrones author) say the same thing – if he knew the full story before he started writing it then he wouldn’t bother writing it because he would be bored.
Can’t help but wonder how this applies to the way we run a business?
Where is the sweet spot between laying out the plan in advance – vs laying it out as we go?
The extreme on either side can be problematic.
If we plan out too much or too far in advance we leave no room for being able to respond to what comes up on the journey. There is no room for creativity.
If don’t plan at all and just make it up as we go – we can end up wasting a lot of time and energy, and may never land where we want to go.
There is a middle ground that I’ve been playing in this past year. One part planning – one part flow – and it has served me well. Plus it’s been SO much more fun than just ‘laying out a plan and following it’… which I will admit feels boring at times.
This is something we will be teaching – and experimenting with – in a new program that Andrea Lee and I are starting next month. If you are interested in learning more about what we have cooking up let me know – comment below or send me an email.
*(Perma) borrowed – when one borrows a book with no intent of giving it back. But don’t worry – Mike already knows I’m sending him a new copy.
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