If you had 1 more hr a day, how would you use it to build your business?

If you had 1 more hour a day, how would you use it to build your business?

I was recently asked this question during a panel discussion and my answer probably shocked a number of people. “Rollerblade“, I said.

I’ve always loved rollerblading, but it was this past summer that I realized how critical it was to the success of my business. Each day I would make myself leave my office for an hour. I’d throw my blades in the back of my trunk, drive down to the lakeshore, play my favorite podcast and skate the path that hugged the curves of the lake. It was during this time that my ‘task-driven mind’ turned off and my ‘creative mind’ turned on. I don’t know if it was the fresh lake wind in my hair, the sun on my skin, the fact that blading gets my heart beating or a combination of all of these, but that 1 hour trumped all other hours in my business day. I solved problems I didn’t think could be solved. And, I came up with some of my best business ideas.

Perhaps your rollerblading moments have nothing to do with rollerblades at all. Maybe for you it’s taking a long drive. Maybe it’s taking a shower. Or, it could even be that 15 minutes your brain shifts between being awake and slipping into sleep. Find when you do your best thinking (hint: often it’s when you’re not purposely thinking at all).

Recognize that completing tasks usually does not equal business success. Creative thinking is the power to cut through the mundane and think in leaps and bounds. Make more time for those moments.