Innovation can be more attainable to those who take the time to rest their brains than those constantly working and in Saskatchewan, the wide-open prairies present opportunities to allow for your mind to wander and dream of how to create a brighter future.
There are those whose intelligence and wisdom have made them inspirational figures who have stated the importance of thinking time to solve problems. Albert Einstein is said to have explained that if he was challenged with a problem and given an hour to solve it, he would spend 55 minutes think about the problem and five minutes solving it. Then, there is Winston Churchill who spoke of the positive thinker seeing the invisible, feeling the intangible and achieving the unthinkable.
Free thinking – the kind that goes beyond the day-to-day decision-making and executing – is what is necessary to innovate. New solutions come from the type of thinking that is not about what needs to be done, but what could be done about an obstacle. The power is in taking the time to assess and analyze the true nature of the problem as well as the options and potentials that could be applied to it.
In Saskatchewan, there are conditions naturally present that lend themselves to helping people get away from the hustle and bustle and into a meditative space. That is the frame of mind necessary to do your best thinking.
It’s true of agricultural producers who have the opportunity every spring and fall. Think about the hours that farmers spend in tractor cabs during those times of the year. Most of that work is care and maintenance ensuring that the tractor is operated smoothly as it makes its way through the fields.
Then, there are the winter months that take farmers from their fields to their shops where they can plan and create prototypes of technology that occurred to them while they were in their tractors. If thinking time is a powerful tonic for problem solving, then Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan farmers have been blessed with a magnificent opportunity.
Agricultural producers aren’t alone. Think about those highway drives so many in business do on a regular business.
They have the opportunity known as “windshield time.” Being on long stretches of highway that cut through wide swaths of land allowing for a direct view of a broad horizon can start to release the clutter of the mind and allow for the problems and potential solutions to start to swirl.
As autonomous vehicles become more available, this thinking time will increase for those who would have been behind necessary to operate the vehicle. For example, farmers might not be needed in the cab of the tractor handling seeding or harvest. There are already discussions happening in Saskatchewan about how technicians relied on to maintain agricultural machinery will have a more direct role in ensuring that seeding and harvest continues smoothly. Some expect these technicians will be directly connected to the machinery and will respond to it, rather than the farmer, should an issue develop that takes it out of service. This allows the farmer more resting and thinking time to devise new solutions for problems requiring them.
If the opportunity for thinking time doesn’t present itself, then you can create one for yourself by taking vacation time. Some might be hesitant, especially those who take pride in their unyielding dedication to work. This might be because they feel their business can’t afford their absence.
But not allowing yourself downtime is hurting your potential. When your brain is tired – and it may not be apparent just how very tired it is until you rest – you can not fully use it imagine beyond what is directly in front of you. A healthier way of framing rest and its importance is to think of it as fuel.
At least three weeks of downtime is necessary to fully reach a level that allows you rest in order to recharge. The first week is spent acknowledging your exhaustion. That week you realize just how tightly wound you have become and you allow yourself to unwind to release the tension that has built up.
The second week is restful. It doesn’t mean you nap all the time, but it does mean that you aren’t using the time to drive anything forward.
The third week is when you recharge your battery so you have the fuel you need to not just grind every day going forward. A break like this allows your mind reset in order to determine how to grow and evolve beyond your current situation.
Coming up with new and fresh ideas that resolve a problem is more probable when you allow some of your time to be spent thinking and dreaming, rather than always doing. When you do that thinking in a space that doesn’t limit your view – as can be found here in Saskatchewan with our wide-open spaces and unending horizon – your brain can wander to original places, as connections are made and ideas become unlocked. Saskatchewan offers the opportunity to contemplate what could be and that is why we see so many innovations in agriculture and technology being developed in this province to benefit the world.
