Half the staff was on vacation last Tuesday and the rest of us were busy fitting five days of deadlines into a three day Thanksgiving work week. About 2:15 in the afternoon, the power went out. No lights. No phones. No network. Anger quickly replaced disbelief, soon followed by futility and then helplessness. About two hours into clearing off the stacks of papers on my desk, ideas started to pop. One eureka moment after another arrived. They seemed to come out of nowhere, but I knew better. I’ve long preached in seminars and conference sessions that the to-do list is the enemy of creativity. Take away the pressure of schedules and the mind starts once again to play. I didn’t accomplish my plan for that Tuesday afternoon. I did, however, have one of my most productive days in weeks. Having a power outage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re out of power.
