I Produce My Best Work When I Transform into a Lone Wolf (You Can, Too)
Give it a try!
Our World has gotten way too noisy.
It wasn’t like this when I was growing up. Then, people listened. My Dad insisted I shut up and listen before speaking.
“But Dad, I want to talk! Why must I listen?”
It turns out that Dad was on to something big. Something bigger than he could articulate.
And He Was (Still Is) Right
When we listen before we speak, good things happen.
First, we are on point. Of course, we are responding to a conversation or question. This is an apex human quality.
Many people I know cannot continue a conversation with relevance.
My ex-Boss in consulting used to call them deal-breakers. I understand why. Clients want direct responses, after all.
Second, it calms us down. When we force ourselves to listen, we think.
We get to go deep. We engage at the philosophical, spiritual, commercial, educational, and psychological levels.
Third, we focus. Not just that. We develop a strong sense of presence beyond our physical form.
The other person knows we are here. Our body language is a testament to our unwavering attention.
All these are great stuff.
But what does it do with being productive and getting work done?
Turns out, it is everything.
I Do My Best Work When I’m Alone
We live in an era when the noisiest people win.
Your social media feed and recent meeting(s) in the office are telling.
Please do not be mistaken. I don’t mean that the noisiest produce the best ideas, opinions, or judgment. Susan Cain, the author of Quiet, has debunked that.
Thank Goodness.
The noisiest wins our airtime and annoyance. Sad, but true. And we pay for it.
How so? Via our distractions. Or via pantry gossip.
It becomes impossible to do our best work… when everyone around us is attempting to one-up the previous opinion contributor.
We see that in social media comments. We see that in emails.
And so, I choose to withdraw into my shell.
I enjoy being alone. It allows me to do complex work. Writing is one example.
Writing requires focus because it is unbelievably complex.
- Scribbling a Post-it to your boss? Get straight to the point.
- Sending an email to your downline? Make sure it is actionable.
- Drafting a commercial proposal? Answer your client’s pain points.
- Working on an online article? Write with a content flow and edit to idea relevance.
Each of these bullets requires my right and left brains to come together. And they will… when I am left alone.
I don’t have to be left alone for the entire day. 3 hours in the morning does miracles.
I can crank out an article draft, a commercial proposal for management review, and 2 project papers.
When I am out in the open, sitting at my desk, inviting others to come speak to me?
I get to send 2 emails if I’m lucky.
I Get Creative Too
My creative juices flow best when I am left to my own.
And that doesn’t mean I need to push everyone away. It can happen naturally. Fresh ideas come to me when I commute in a cab. Or flying business class to another country for work.
The World comes to a standstill. Conversations with our inner self, buried deep within our subconscious, happen.
“I have a 4-hour product workshop in 30 minutes, and I’ve not prepared for it. How can I manage this?”
This is a recent phenomenon.
I was heading to session 4 of a software training with Client A. And… I found myself running out of things to say.
It was not that I had nothing to say, per se.
Workshop participants in this group are reserved and software-adverse. My regular curriculum sent a 48-year-old to Snoozeland during session 3.
It annoyed me.
I couldn’t think straight at home (renovation work upstairs) and in the office (multiple concurrent conversations in the background). While disrupted, this question never left me.
Then, it was time to commute to the client site. I hopped into a cab.
That was the best thing that happened. The cabbie left me alone. I got to think.
I started asking questions in my head.
My mind picked those up and offered many possibilities.
- “Why not just finish the syllabus?”
- “Deviate a little and touch on other interesting pieces of the software?”
- “How about attacking a case study?”
The clock in my head stopped when the 3rd bullet popped into existence. I loved that idea. It gives depth to the software.
I probed further.
I extracted possibilities through iterative conversation with my inner voice.
“Can we map out the key performance indicators and show how they cascade throughout the organization?”
“Okay, but conceptual work drives the participants to sleep.”
“Maybe we can take our work done in Client B, package it as a case study, and get this client to attempt a solution using our software?”
Ah, I like that!
I quickly scribbled down that case study in my notebook. I had no time to prepare a PPT. The cab is 15 minutes away from my destination.
I wrote the crux of the case study and presented it when I took the stage.
The client got hooked. They loved the idea of solving real-world operational issues. It showed them how the software can relate to their day job.
They woke up from Snoozeland.
I was happy.
Parting Keynotes
I believe our killer productivity, focus, and creativity are unleashed when we are alone.
Our World has gotten too noisy. Everyone is trying to make themselves heard. We are drowned in decibels in that process.
Don’t stay there.
Eject yourself from that situation. Get into your bubble.
Transform yourself into a Lone Wolf for a day.
You will be amazed by what you can do.
This article is inspired by Tim Denning’s. You can read his story here.
As a content contributor, I write my daily life observations and business exposure. Our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.