I went out on a ride into the Surrey Hills today to try and get my head around my next career steps. I was made redundant from my last job (I was based in a large bank and was, like many, a credit crunch victim) and have found that work is becoming harder to pick up. So today was supposed to be a gentle spin of the legs in lovely countryside to stimulate the old grey matter and come up with some ideas as to what I might do if the lack of work continues for an extended length of time (developing a 'Plan B'). Ideally I will pick up some more business analysis work, but the current economic climate might dictate a more dramatic shift towards new career opportunities.
Having now reflected on my ride, I can categorically state that I cannot think on the bike. It's impossible! To get to a place where I can think creatively means switching off such vital defence mechanisms as anticipation and heightened awareness. I remember a book (well, I remember the content of a book rather than the title of the book) that was given to everyone by the founding director when I worked in an internet design agency, which advocated essentially 'switching off' when trying to solve a problem, assuming that you had first tried to analyse the problem from every angle and had spent sufficient time absorbed in the problem-solving activity. The basic assumption was that you needed some mental 'distance' from the problem-solving activity in order to come up with the unique solution. It always reminded me of a passage in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (well, one of the latter books by Douglas Adams anyway) where Arthur Dent was learning to fly. According to the book we all have an innate ability to fly, but the knack lies in "learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss". Well, Arthur managed it by being distracted at last moment, forgetting he was in mid-air and consequently soaring skywards.
So maybe I was unable to come up with a solution to my current work predicament whilst on the bike because I wasn't suitably distracted, and was still trying too hard to find the solution. Sounds like a bit of a cop-out though, doesn't it?
On another note, I received some pictures from a clubmate of his bike following a 'dispute' he and another rider had with a moving vehicle (driver pulled out from a side road in front of them on a long descent). Luckily they avoided major injury. I'll have to ask him if he was trying to solve a problem at the time and whether he had any 'lightbulb moment'. At least some thought other than "how will I get back from the hospital". RIP, Jamie's Colnago...
Think I'll try and do my thinking off the bike from now on.
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