Will you indulge me for a moment?
For over ten years I have been writing about every aspect of copywriting, marketing and social media I can think of.
I’ve helped countless people improve their writing and find the writer (i.e. me) best able to help them achieve their aims.
The one thing I’ve never done is write a blog purely for pleasure (i.e. not work orientated). Well, that’s about to change.
Granted, what you’re about to read is still technically about work (sort of), but it concerns those random thoughts that constantly pop into my head while I’m working.
They can be annoying and entertaining in equal measure. Annoying because they have the potential to break my concentration and entertaining because they frequently relieve the boredom of working on my own (or a particularly tedious topic).
The value in random
I’m a firm believer that randomness should be embraced.
As a business owner, I have never written a business plan (shock horror). I prefer to work on instinct and follow opportunities as and when they arise.
Many of my contracts with large corporate clients have come about not through targeted marketing efforts, but random conversations, chance meetings and referrals.
Getting back to those random thoughts, my last one was the other day. I was working on a project that was fairly complex, and my ideas had dried up. I tried the usual creative unblockers – a glance through the paper, an episode of Suits, strong coffee – but nothing worked. The only thing left was to take Murphy and Sonny (my two dogs) out for a walk.
While walking around the fields, I began to wonder. I use the dogs a lot for work. Playing with them or walking them provides valuable downtime to let my brain untangle itself and unleash new creative ideas.
That being the case, does that make their food, vet bills and supplies tax deductible?
I guess not (and no, I have never tried to get those expenses past my accountant), but it was random enough to make me switch off from what I had been writing about.
Once they were worn out and we returned home, I sat down; looked at the work with fresh eyes and the ideas began to flow once more.
What’s my point?
I’m not sure, other than allowing yourself the freedom to do something non-work now and then does you a power of good.
To be honest, the real reason for writing this post was to give my brain some downtime.
I am currently writing a white paper about transformation in world trade and have sat through umpteen videos as background. As you can imagine my head was beginning to swim, so writing this post has given the old grey cells a bit of a break.
Thanks for indulging me – best get back to work.
Sally Ormond is an international copywriter. Working across all industries, she creates on-brand content for on and offline marketing as well as internal communications.